Ghosts
by May Chang
Summary: John Shepard didn't get spaced when the Normandy was destroyed.  Instead he wakes up in Castle Cousland.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Ghosts  
Author: May Chang  
Warnings: general, adventure, AU  
Pairings: M!Shepard + Ashley, M!Cousland x Zevran  
Disclaimers: _Dragon Age: Origins_ and _Mass Effect_ are the property of BioWare.  
Author's Note: Shepard is a Paragon/Earthborn/War Hero/Infiltrator.

* * *

**Ghosts**

* * *

**Part One**

He was sleeping in the guest room. Fergus Cousland could only sit by him and stare. He was smaller than Fergus remembered, and the tattoo that was under his right eye and cheek were gone. The teyrn lifted a hand to touch the man's face and paused before dropping it back to his side. He could only stare at the patient for a while before he got up and left the room.

The man had been found badly burned but still alive. He was wearing the strangest clothing and helmet, and strapped on his back were strange objects, three of them probably broken from whatever happened to him. The healers had done their best, keeping watch as the fever burned through the man for almost a week before the fever finally broke. The man fell into a sound sleep and the healers told Fergus that now he would be all right.

Fergus stepped out onto the balcony, looking over the town. The rebuilding was taking some time, but the money that was returned from Arl Howe's former residence and the extra from His Majesty helped. The town was already bustling with life and money was already filling the coffers in the castle. It was a different story for the castle, the debris cleared up from the attack. The place was just empty to Fergus, no cheerful banter from his father, no happy conversation between his wife and his mother, no childish laughter from Oren.

And in the end, Aedan had killed the archdemon and thus ended his own life. Alistair never forgave the man and in a way neither did Fergus.

So the appearance of the man in the guest room, a man who looked so much like his little brother that Fergus couldn't help but think it _was_ Aedan, made him wonder if perhaps the Maker was giving him a second chance. He had considered sending a message to Alistair, to let him know about the man's appearance but decided against it. Alistair still had much to learn and do.

"My Lord?" Fergus turned to see one of the newer maids at the doorway. "He's awake."

"Thank you," Fergus replied with a nod, dismissing the maid. He took a deep breath and walked back into the castle. His heart pounded as he nervously wondered what to say to the man. He stopped before the door, knocked and entered. The man looked up with piercing blue eyes, almost eerie-like, and he winced as he shifted on the bed, getting into a comfortable seating position.

"Um, hi," the man said and winced again, this time at the sound of his voice. He cleared his throat before speaking again. "Where am I?"

"This is Castle Cousland," Fergus replied. "I am Fergus Cousland, the Teyrn of Highever. Tell me, what is your name and where are you from?"

"Commander John Shepard," the man introduced himself, looking around the room. "And I'm totally not from around here."

* * *

It took a couple days before Shepard was able to get out of bed and move without feeling like he was going keel over and die. He wondered if he did die at that moment when the _Normandy_ blew. The burns on his body were a testament that he had been caught in the explosion, but how he got here and how he was still alive were a complete mystery.

The place was primitive but very cozy. Shepard rubbed the back of his neck, seriously considering his room on the _Normandy_ and his place on Earth and the Citadel. None of them were cozy like the room he was currently occupying.

He was able to put on the clothes that Fergus had provided and was rather surprised at how well they fit, albeit a bit loosely on his frame. Even the boots that were given to him fit his feet as though it was made just for him. Shepard puzzled over the clothes and boots before slowly standing up from his bed and towards the door.

There were two guards outside, fully armored with shields and swords strapped on their back. He gave them a nod in greetings before looking both ways and taking a right. The guards followed after him, their armor clinking. Shepard ignored them, puzzling over the fact that the castle looked like it was recovering from some battle. There weren't many people in the castle, a stark contrast between the warmth of the room he was in. What also caught his attention were the servants running about; they all looked human except some of them were smaller and had pointy ears.

All of them had an accent, sounding like people from The European Union back on Earth. Now that he thought about it, the castle made Shepard think of the pictures he'd seen on the TV screens of castles in England and Scotland.

_Ah, perhaps this is this world's version of the United Kingdoms_, Shepard thought.

"John." The commander turned as Fergus approached him and he gave the man a nod in greetings. "Should you even be up? How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Shepard replied. "Please call me Shepard, I'm use to being called that. I'm moving a little slower than usual but it's fine. I just wanted to take a look around here."

"Ah, of course. Laying in bed can get pretty boring," Fergus said with a nod. "I have some of your stuff in my study. You should have them back." The teyrn turned and Shepard followed him, still hearing the clinking of armor as the two guards followed after them. He entered the study with Fergus, glancing back to see the guards take their positions outside before looked back at the teryn. Fergus opened up a chest and pulled out Shepard's sniper rifle and what looked like his pistol. He also pulled out a leather bag and placed it on his desk.

Shepard picked up the pistol and after checking it thoroughly he shook his head, knowing the gun was totally broken. The sniper rifle was fine, and when he looked through the leather bag, found four bullet clips.

"Thank you," he said, putting away the sniper rifle then eyed the pistol. "I must have been pretty badly hurt, this is destroyed." Fergus nodded as he closed and locked the chest and took his seat behind the desk. He gestured at the seat before him and Shepard sat down, suddenly grateful to be off his feet.

"You were," Fergus said, leaning back. Shepard got the feeling that the teyrn was studying him and he looked back at him. "Thank the Maker that you were found so quickly. The healers say that you'll still have the scars though."

"It's a small price to pay," Shepard said with a shrug and winced. "Out of curiosity, is something wrong? It feels like you want to ask me something." Fergus blinked then sighed, a pained expression crossing his face.

"I apologize," the teyrn said. "It's just that… that you look exactly like my little brother. He died a few months ago, saving the land. I wonder if the Maker is telling me something when you arrived."

"Probably," the commander said. He leaned forward, his blue eyes darkening. "It's probably something about second chances. I'm suppose to be dead."

* * *

It was about a week later when Shepard finally left the castle for the first time. Fergus took the time to accompany the man into town, showing him what was going on. Shepard curiously asked Fergus what had happened, and Fergus took a deep breath before explaining. Shepard's blue eyes darkened before laughing children running by distracted them. Fergus smiled as the children ran up to him, greeting him cheerfully before rushing off, playing.

After a while Fergus began to notice that the people were starting to give him looks, expressions that contained confusion, surprise and maybe a little bit of fear. It took a moment to realize that those looks weren't directed at him. He looked back to see Shepard walking behind him, looking rather uncomfortable and Fergus suddenly knew why. It wasn't the burned stranger walking with Fergus, it was Aedan who was walking behind his older brother. Fergus cleared his throat and paused in his steps so that Shepard would catch up to him.

"This is… weird," Shepard muttered. "This is like what happened after the Blitz."

"The Blitz?" Fergus asked curiously. Shepard glanced around, still looking rather uncomfortable.

"From my world, I was considered a hero," the commander admitted. "I was just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to save a settlement from slavers. Got the civilians to pick up arms and held them off just long enough until reinforcement arrived."

"A hero, huh?" Fergus mused. "Just like Aedan, in a way." Neither of them said anything else after that, taking time to see some of the places before they returned to the castle.

* * *

Shepard would never be Aedan and the differences were starting to become more and more obvious. It had taken almost a month for the burns to heal, but in that timeframe Shepard had been able to charm his way into the hearts of the people of Highever. Aedan was never good at talking, being a man of action, but Shepard was more than willing to talk before answering with violence. At one point when Fergus and Shepard were at The Golden Wreath, two men were about to fight and Shepard had walked over to them. Moments later he was sharing a tankard with the two, all of them laughing and getting along like old friends.

He was a runner - Fergus had gone to the courtyard for some sword practice and saw the commander running laps there. The scars were still there, a mass of white scores criss-crossing his body, and Shepard still tired easily but he pushed on. That was probably one thing he had in common with Aedan, the need to run and to continue on even if he was hurting.

It took another month for Shepard to start with combat practice. Shepard didn't use a longsword or a greatsword, preferring daggers as they were the most familiar to him. He wasn't an expert in using the bladed weapons though as when he was given a crossbow and shown how to use it, he proved to be an expert marksman. Shepard had nonchalantly shrugged when the boys were crowing with praises at him, telling them that he was trained to shoot this well.

The strangest thing though had to be Shepard's eyes. Aedan had inherited their father's blue eyes but it had a tinge of green in them, inherited from their mother. When he was happy they would be a warm blue-green and when he was angry it would turn ice blue. Shepard's eyes were very… blue. Once in a while it felt like they were glowing to Fergus, and when he voiced that to Shepard the commander looked startled.

"Ah," he said, sounding embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his neck, a gesture that Fergus understood as nervousness or embarrassment. "It's something my people have. I'd explain it, but I'm pretty sure it'd be a little too… complicated to understand." Fergus watched as Shepard's eyes darkened and his expression turned uneasy, and he guessed that it was due to homesickness.

He doesn't ask any more after that.

* * *

Leliana was the first of Aedan's former companions to meet Shepard. She had been looking into the matter of the darkspawn on behalf of Alistair and had arrived to rest for a few days. Fergus hadn't been there to greet her when she arrived but when he entered the main hall, he found the bard on the ground in tears and Shepard was kneeling before her. He looked up with a worried expression at Fergus and looked back at the bard.

"Leliana, are you alright?" Fergus asked as he hurried over to her. He knelt down, placing a hand on her shoulder and pulling out a handkerchief with the other to give to her. She shook her head as she took the handkerchief from Fergus.

"He isn't Aedan," she sobbed. "I know he isn't Aedan, but Maker! He looks exactly like him." Shepard looked away and stood up.

"I'll, uh, I'll be in my room," he said, sounding a bit awkward. In that one moment he sounded exactly like Aedan and even Fergus swallowed hard, reminding himself that this was Shepard, not Aedan. He silently nodded and the commander left the room as Fergus coaxed Leliana to stand up. He pulled her into a hug and she clung to him as she cried into his chest. After a while Leliana wiped her eyes, looking embarrassed at crying all over his shirt.

"It's okay," Fergus said with a shaky smile. "He makes me think of Aedan too. It's late, I can give you a proper introduction tomorrow morning."

* * *

Shepard looked relieved that Leliana didn't didn't burst into tears when they met in the morning for breakfast. She still looked a bit shaken up at the sight of him, and Fergus suppose that it was due to the fact that he looked exactly like Aedan. It took awhile for the townspeople to get use to the fact that Shepard was not Aedan but merely a stranger who just looked like him. Fergus hoped that she would be able to accept that as well by the end of breakfast

"Shepard, this is Leliana," Fergus introduced. "Leliana, this is John Shepard."

"You do not call yourself John?" she inquired curiously.

"It's a soldier thing, I suppose," Shepard admitted. "People always called me Shepard." Fergus made a gesture for them to go to the dining room and the two nodded and followed the teyrn. He pulled out a chair for Leliana who took it with a smile before taking a seat next to her. Shepard took the seat across from the two.

"How goes your investigation?" Fergus asked as the servants brought a basket of fresh-made bread with strawberry preserve. Tea was also brought out and poured for them as Leliana picked up a piece of bread and slathered on the preserve.

"It's strange," she said before taking a bite. "I was at Vigil's Keep before coming here. There's a darkspawn who can talk."

"I'm sorry?" Fergus gave her a startled look, pausing in the middle of putting preserve onto his piece of bread. "I don't think I heard that correctly, my lady. Most darkspawns don't talk."

"I think there are a few that can," Leliana said seriously. "The new Warden-Commander met one when she arrived at Vigil's Keep. I haven't met any of the speaking ones yet but there has been rumors of some unexplained darkspawn activity on the outskirt of Amaranthanine." The servants entered the room again, carrying plates with eggs, sausages and other breakfast items, placing the food before them.

"If you don't mind me asking," Shepard asked, "but what's a darkspawn?" One of the servants nearly dropped a plate and Shepard nimbly saved the plate. The servant stammered out an apology before she hurried out of the room. Shepard looked puzzled by that as he looked back at both Leliana and Fergus.

"Darkspawn are monsters," Fergus said. "They're usually found in the Deep Roads, but when there's an archdemon around, they come to the surface and kill everything in their way."

"Your brother was fighting these darkspawns, wasn't he?" Shepard asked. Fergus nodded as he speared a couple sausages.

"I fought alongside Aedan against the darkspawn," Leliana said. "I can explain more about the darkspawn after breakfast. Perhaps you can tell me a little more about yourself, especially about your eyes."

"My eyes?" Shepard looked startled and his eyes brightened in surprise. "Um, what about them?"

"Well, they do glow a bit." Fergus started laughing at that.

* * *

[ **EDIT:** ] Reuploaded on 10/27/2010 with more text.

Still don't know what I'm doing. ^^;


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Ghosts  
Author: May Chang  
Warnings: general, adventure, AU  
Pairings: M!Shepard + Ashley, M!Cousland x Zevran  
Disclaimers: _Dragon Age: Origins_ and _Mass Effect_ are the property of Bioware  
Author's Notes: Shepard is a Paragon/Earthborn/War Hero/Infiltrator.

* * *

**Ghosts**

* * *

**Part Two**

Shepard was stretching in the courtyard, thinking about what Leliana had told him after breakfast. The darkspawn sounded very scary, and unfortunately they also reminded Shepard of the oncoming threat of the Reapers. The thought of the Reapers made Shepard pause mid-stretch, thinking about his world before he gave a sigh and continued on. Running always helped with his thinking.

"You are going running?" Shepard looked towards the voice, seeing Leliana at the doorway. "Would you like to do some combat practice instead?"

"Sure," Shepard replied with a nod. "I'm warning you, I'm terrible with a blade." Leliana laughed at that as she joined Shepard, both of them picking up practice blades. He had practiced with Fergus and some of the other men and knew in comparison to them all, Shepard royally sucked with a blade. He had taken it all in stride as while he was no expert with bladed weapons, he was a master when it came to projectile weapons. The crossbow was the closest to a gun for him so that helped a lot.

"You are smaller," Leliana said and Shepard looked at her, seeing that she was eyeing him. "Much smaller than Aedan, but I'm betting you are quite fast."

"Sort of," he admitted. "There are others that are faster than me from where I come from. My background has me act more like a spy. I suppose in a way my work is very similar to yours." Leliana raised an eyebrow as they got into position. She had two daggers, Shepard noticed, and was holding them in a strange way. He had only one and he guessed that the way he held himself was just as strange to Leliana.

And then they fought.

"You fight strangely," Leliana said as she took a swipe at Shepard who jumped back to avoid it. Shepard twirled his blade as he circled around.

"It's the way that I was taught," he said. "Of course we don't usually fight people face to face." He stepped forward, and then was stepping back as Leliana attacked, weaving away from her.

"Oh, so you're more like an assassin," Leliana said.

"I suppose." Shepard successfully hit Leliana on the side, but winced when she hit him back with both blades. "I don't use a knife to kill people, I pick them off with my gun."

"Gun?" She rushed forward, attacking quickly. Shepard did his best to avoid her attacks.

"Er, it's something like a crossbow," Shepard said. He managed to disarm Leliana of one of her blades. "Much more powerful though." He moved forward again and Leliana retaliated with a swipe. He dodged back enough to be able grab her arm and flipped her onto her back. There was a surprised cry from Leliana and he finished up be pinning her arm down and the knife to her neck.

"What was that move?" she asked breathlessly.

"Something I learned from training," he replied with a grin. He pulled away the knife and helped the red-head up to her feet. "The knife and unarmed combat training are all purely defensive though. Maybe I can teach you a little if you tell me how you can wield two dagger at the same time without hurting yourself."

"Done," Leliana replied with a laugh.

* * *

Shepard wasn't use to oral story-telling, but he found it rather engaging. He decided that it had to do with the way Leliana told the stories that made it so fascinating. She was relating her adventures with Aedan and the others, and some of the more humorous moments between them. Fergus seemed to appreciate the stories as well, laughing with Shepard.

"Ah, but I suppose it's now your turn, Shepard," Leliana said. "Where did you come from? What is your story?"

"Where did I come from?" Shepard rubbed the back of his neck. "Would you believe me if I said I came from the stars?" Leliana raised an eyebrow while Fergus tilted his head. Shepard chuckled quietly.

"I was born in America, but I can't tell you who my parents were. Never knew them, to be honest," he said. "When I turned 18, I joined the military just to get away and that's it."

"Surely that's can't be all there is?" Leliana asked, pouting.

"He was a hero," Fergus said, causing Shepard to give a shrug while Leliana's eyes brighten in interest.

"It wasn't much," Shepard explained. "Like I told Fergus, I was just at the right place at the right time."

"You should tell her the whole story or she's going to start needling you," Fergus said, amused. Shepard laughed at that and proceeded to tell Leliana and Fergus the story of how he became a hero throughout the Alliance. By the end of the story Leliana's eyes were shining and a smile was on her face.

"That was amazing, Shepard," she said. "You are much too modest, trying to hide such things."

"Its things like that that gets me a little too much attention," he replied drily. Leliana laughed.

"That's true. A spy like you wouldn't be able to work if everybody knows your face," she said. "So how do you think you got here?" Shepard leaned back into his chair, staring at the ceiling.

"Who knows?" he replied. "I just remember that I was trying to get my crew off of the ship when I got hit by an explosion and was spaced. I know I was falling through the atmosphere and then... And then I woke up here."

"You were under attack?" Fergus asked alarmed.

"Yeah." The commander crossed his arms and looked at Fergus and Leliana. "There were ships of people disappearing and I was tasked to find out what was happening. A warship came out of nowhere and attacked us." He looked away, suddenly worried. He had managed to get Joker into the escape pod but he wasn't positive if it had been launched before the explosion.

It made Shepard realized that he needed to find a way home, as soon as possible.

"Are you alright, Shepard?" He looked at Leliana who wore a concerned look on her face.

"I don't know if my people are okay," he said quietly. "I need to find a way back." There was silence in the room for a moment before Leliana spoke again.

"Shepard, when you are talking about ships, you are talking about boats, correct?"

"Boats?" He was confused for a moment before he realized his terminology was much different from their terminology. "Oh, no, they're not boats. They're, well, yeah, they're kind of, um, no, not really, actually, um..." He rubbed the back of his neck, really unsure as to how to explain the concept of space ships to people who still rode horses and fought with swords.

"Well, I mentioned before about the stars, right?"

"Surely that was a joke," Fergus said. Shepard shook his head and watched as the teyrn frown and lean forward in his seat, resting his arms on his knees. "You are serious. You lived among the stars?"

"Well, I didn't live in space," Shepard replied. "Well, not all the time, but I traveled through it mostly. In my world we have ships that fly through the stars. It's like your ships at sea, except we don't have wind to make the ships move. Um... huh, how do I describe an engine?"

"Then you're people are, what, mages?" Leliana asked.

"Mages? Mages are magic-users, right? Uh, no, totally not mages, unless you count... er, no we don't have mages," Shepard said. "We rely more on science and technology." The blank looks on their faces explained everything to Shepard and he chuckled.

"Well, you know how a smith crafts a sword right?" he asked. "I bet that when the first sword came about it was made of stone. Then someone found bronze and figured how to make it into a blade with fire. And then from there it was iron."

"An evolution of weapon," Fergus said. Shepard nodded.

"Yes, now apply that to your ships and weapons and armor," Shepard continued. "One day ships will be made of steel, swords will be able to fit in your pockets or, hell, one day maybe you'll be able to fly through the sky."

"Hold on, this is hurting my head," Leliana said, placing a hand onto her forehead. "You're saying that your people are so advance that it no longer needs swords and magic?"

"Well, we have biotics who could be considered mages in a way, but that's another complicated story," Shepard said, waving his hand at that. "We don't have swords anymore in my world – well, we do but swordsmanship like what Fergus and his men do in the courtyard, we don't have that anymore. Our weapon of choice tend to be guns which are—"

"Like crossbows but more powerful," Leliana said, repeating what Shepard had said that morning. Shepard nodded in response. "But you can still fight without this gun."

"True, but compared to you and Fergus, my training with a dagger is, well, basic," Shepard said, getting a chuckle from Fergus. "And I have to admit, my training is one of the best in terms of human military so hand-to-hand, I'm pretty sure I can best most people here. Hm... may have a little trouble with the guys that are twice my size though, which from what I've seen is every human male here so far." Leliana laughed as Shepard gave them a thoughtful look before breaking out into a grin himself.

* * *

Leliana left a couple of days later. Since then Shepard had been poring through the books in the library, hoping to find some answer though he knew it wasn't likely. The idea of science was a long shot to a world that used magic and swords. Shepard laughed quietly to himself; somehow he managed to jump from a science-fiction novel to a fantasy novel. Still it gave him something to do aside from combat practice and mingling with the townspeople.

It unfortunately made him think about his crew, and he wondered if Joker had been able to escape, if Alenko had found the pilot, if his crew were fine.

"Did you find anything?" Shepard started at the voice and looked up to see Fergus walking up. He looked down at the book, closed it and tossed it onto the stack of other books.

"No, and I doubt I will," Shepard said, rubbing his eyes with a hand. He looked at Fergus who gave him a thoughtful look.

"I have an idea, but... well, to be honest I'd rather not go there, but it is the best chance," Fergus said slowly. "You probably don't know about this but there's a place known as the Circle. It's a place that's filled with mages."

"...Mages," Shepard said. He was sure disbelief was in his voice because Fergus gave him a look. "Sorry, but in my world we don't have what I'm assuming as magic-users."

"I see." Fergus nodded. "I believe there's a book about the Circle somewhere in the library so if you wish to know more about them you can read them up. As is, the mages all have pull their spells from another world, perhaps they would have some inkling about your situation." Shepard nodded thoughtfully.

"I'll finish looking through your library first and then we'll see," Shepard said. "Thank you, Fergus." Fergus just smiled and with a nod, left the library.

* * *

[ **Edit:** ] 11/5/10 - Updated with more content

Whee, second part! It's going somewhere. ^^;


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Ghosts  
Author: May Chang  
Warnings: general, adventure, AU  
Pairings: M!Shepard + Ashley, M!Cousland x Zevran  
Disclaimers: _Dragon Age: Origins_ and _Mass Effect_ are the property of Bioware  
Author's Notes: Shepard is a Paragon/Earthborn/War Hero/Infiltrator.

* * *

**Ghosts**

* * *

**Part Three**

The Orlesian Grey Warden arrived to Highever one night. Leonie Caron came to the castle, looking like hell as her companions followed her. Fergus recognized only two of the three companions: Oghren – the dwarf who had accompanied Aedan on his journeys – and Nathaniel Howe. The rogue took one look at Fergus before he averted his eyes, looking anywhere but at the teyrn. Judging by the looks of his men, it seemed that none of them had forgotten the actions Nathaniel's father had done to Highever.

Personally Fergus wasn't sure what to make of Nathaniel. On one hand he had nothing to do with the murders and destruction of Highever, and on the other hand it was Rendon Howe's son. He suppose acting neutral to the man would be enough.

"Lady Caron, welcome to Highever," Fergus greeted, giving the Warden-Commander a warm smile.

"Your Grace," she replied with a nod, her Orlesian accent thick. "Please call me Leonie. I'm sorry to come so late and unannounced but we were just returning from Orzammar."

"Of course, you are all welcome here," Fergus said, eyes flicking over to Nathaniel and watching the man flinch. "Please follow me to the guest rooms." The grateful look on Leonie's face told Fergus just how tired she was, and judging by the looks on the others, they were equally as tired. Fergus showed them to the guest quarters, made sure they were all settled in before he walked off to the library. Shepard was sitting by the fire, a stack of books by his side. He looked up when Fergus approached and got up with a nod of greetings.

"Were you able to find anything?" Fergus asked. Shepard shook his head. "Ah, perhaps the Circle would have something, though they are a bit... unfriendly."

"The way you say that makes me a bit nervous," Shepard said. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Uh, they're not going to think I'm Aedan, are they?" Fergus frowned.

"To be honest, I'm not sure," the teyrn replied. "I don't know if Aedan had anything to do with the Circle, but there were mages and templars in the battle so... oh dear, perhaps they will think you're Aedan." Fergus crossed his arms, a hand to his mouth as he thought about it before an idea crossed his mind.

"Oh, I have an idea."

* * *

Fergus was practicing with Shepard in the morning when Leonie arrived. She watched the two, tilting her head as she watched Shepard drop back away from Fergus. The commander glanced quickly in her direction, twirling his blade in his hand as he circled slowly around Fergus.

"You're getting better," Fergus said.

"Not enough," Shepard replied. "Still suck with daggers." Fergus laughed before he unleashed another flurry of attacks on Shepard. Shepard was able to dodge and parry most of the attacks, backing up and wincing from the ones he couldn't get away from.

"Ouch," Shepard said and Fergus laughed again before turning towards the Warden-Commander.

"Good morning, My Lady," he greeted. Shepard straightened and gave her a nod in greeting.

"Good morning, Your Grace," Leonie said with a smile. "You asked to see me?"

"Ah, yes, yes, I did. Leonie Caron, this is John Shepard. Shepard, Lady Leonie Caron, the Warden Commander of the Grey Wardens and arlessa of Amaranthine."

"Much to my chagrin," Leonie said with a sigh as she and Shepard shook hands. "I only expected to be leading the Grey Warden, not to take care of a city as well." Fergus chuckled at that while Shepard glanced between the two with an unsure expression.

"I'm sorry to ask such a bizarre favor of you, but would you escort Shepard to the Circle?" Fergus asked. Leonie frowned at that, looking rather puzzled as she looked at Shepard. "Ah, he's perfectly harmless unless you hand him a crossbow, and then he's a terror to anyone in his way."

"Is there a reason for this, Your Grace?" Leonie asked.

"Highever is still rebuilding and I need to be here," Fergus explained. "And, well, there's another reason why it would be best to be escorted by Grey Wardens, in particular you. I understand that His Majesty passed some of his templar-training knowledge to you."

"Yes," she replied cautiously. "What does that have to do with—"

"Aedan!" The three turned in surprise at the bellow, in time to see Oghren stumble towards them. "By the Stones, you're suppose to be dead!" Nathaniel Howe and the third companion were behind the dwarf, the former going pale while the latter looking utterly confused by the situation. From the corner of his eye Fergus could see Leonie give Shepard a sharp look and Shepard rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Oghren, he isn't Aedan," Fergus said calmly. He then looked at Leonie. "I suppose you can understand why I'm asking you." Oghren walked down towards Shepard and eyed the commander suspiciously. Nathaniel had followed slowly behind, purposely not looking at Fergus again but his eyes were trained on Shepard, a cautious expression on his face.

"I see." Leonie continued to look at Shepard for a moment before she nodded. "Fine, I can do that but I want to get back to Vigil's Keep first. We're also rebuilding Amaranthine and I want to check on the progress and let Varel know about this change in plan."

"Of course," Fergus said with a nod. He looked at the Howe who finally looked up at Fergus before he looked back at Oghren who was poking at Shepard now. The commander took it all in stride, patiently answering the dwarf's questions. "We're all still rebuilding after all."

* * *

Shepard wasn't quite sure what to expect traveling with the four Grey Wardens to Vigil's Keep. Fergus had said that he could stay at the castle until Leonie returned from whatever she had to do, but Shepard decided he wanted to see what was out there beyond Highever. He had left his sniper rifle back at the castle with Fergus keeping it in his chest, but now Shepard wished it brought it along.

Oghren had taken the news of how "it's Shepard, not Aedan" quite well, or so Shepard thought until they camped for the first night. Oghren was piss-drunk in camp and Shepard decided to give him a wide berth, and a rhetorical question of where the hell the booze came from. The other two companions were a rogue named Nathaniel Howe and a mage named Anders. The former still seemed uncomfortable in Shepard's presence. When Shepard asked Fergus about it before he left with the wardens, the teyrn gave Shepard a sad look and shook his head.

Shepard decided it had to do with Aedan. He was getting a bit tired of being compared to him.

The one saving grace was Anders. The mage was a smartass, but at least he didn't know anything about Aedan. He was an expert in escaping the Tower which made Shepard wonder about the place. When he asked about the Tower, Anders made a face and explained that he didn't like being locked up and watched over like some animal. For some reason Shepard thought about Kaidan and his background, and understood in that moment why Anders would go out of his way to keep running away.

Leonie Caron was a familiar presence to Shepard, and it's probably because of her bearing. He was a soldier and in comparison to the four, only Leonie carried herself like a soldier. She didn't say much, watching Anders, Nathaniel and Oghren banter with one another with a faint smile on her face. Shepard curiously asked the Warden-Commander about the Grey Wardens and was rewarded with a more in-depth explanation of their role.

"Do you not have some organization that is similar to ours, Shepard?" Leonie asked curiously. Shepard poked at the fire with a stick, thinking.

"No, there really isn't," Shepard said thoughtfully. "We all have to answer to some form of government, though if we did have something like the Grey Wardens..." He trailed off, suddenly thinking about the oncoming threat of the Reapers. While they didn't have the danger of darkspawn running around, there were the geth and who knows what else in the universe working for the Reapers.

"No, there isn't," he repeated more quietly. He looked at Leonie and shrugged. "At least all the governments are working together to stop whatever would try to kill us. Well, that was happening before I, uh, left."

"Hmph." Leonie nodded. "At least you have politicians who are willing to work together. Most of the ones I know are trying to kill each other." Shepard snorted.

"No, where I come from, they do that too," he replied dryly. "At least politicians are the same everywhere." It earned him a laugh from the Warden-Commander.

They made it to Amaranthine on the third day in the late afternoon and Shepard could feel curious looks coming his way. He was pretty sure it wasn't because he looked like Aedan – Fergus had assured him that the people of Amaranthine haven't seen them since they were children – so Shepard figured it had to do with the Grey Wardens. Amaranthine didn't look so good in comparison to Highever when Leonie said that the city was also rebuilding she hadn't been kidding.

A young man bumped into Leonie and muttered an apology before trying to walk off, only to be stopped by Shepard who grabbed his wrist.

"Give it back," he said firmly. Leonie stopped to look back at Shepard and the man, as did the others. The man sputtered out some denial and Shepard squeezed, causing the man to wince. "Give back her purse or I'll have the guards come for you." There was a startled exhale from Leonie as the pickpocket handed Shepard the purse he'd taken. Shepard raised an eyebrow and the man reluctantly also handed back a ring and dagger. With that Shepard let the thief go, who instantly ran off and melted into the crowed.

"You really should keep an eye on your belongings," Shepard said as he handed Leonie her property. The Warden-Commander nodded as she put them away, this time more carefully. She also gave him a thoughtful look before she turned and led the way towards their destination once again.

"I'm surprised you saw that," Nathaniel said. "You don't strike me as someone who would see these things." Shepard chuckled at that.

"When you're a kid with no parents, you have to learn to live on the streets," he said then smirked at Nathaniel. "I've pick-pocketed some people when I was younger so I have an eye for catching these sort of things." Leonie glanced back at Shepard, a look on her face before turning to look forward again. Shepard wondered what it was, unsure whether it was surprise or curiosity.

"Really." Nathaniel gave Shepard a disbelieving look.

"Yup," Shepard said and held up a ring. "Nice ring by the way." It earned him a surprised look from Nathaniel who looked down at his hand, now deprived of the gold ring and then back at Shepard. Oghren barked out a laugh while Anders snickered as Shepard handed the ring back to the rogue.

"Good one, kid," Oghren declared with a laugh. "You're going to get along just great with everybody."

Vigil's Keep was definitely in the middle of rebuilding from what Shepard could see. There were people working on the wall, cleaning up debris from some attack before and what looks like a soldier drilling young men in the art of using a blade. It was all very haphazard in comparison to Highever, and he was sure that Highever had been hit harder than Amaranthine from whatever attacked them.

He said nothing though, watching as Anders and Oghren both leave to do their own thing, and Nathaniel followed Leonie to an older man who seemed to know what was going on. Shepard just followed them, looking around and half-listening to the conversation. It sounded to him that the man was the caretaker of the Keep, making sure everything was running while Leonie was out.

That brought up the question of what Nathaniel was doing talking to the man and Leonie. Perhaps he was Leonie's second-in-command with the way he carried himself. It made Shepard think of Kaidan, how the man was always by his side when it came to politics.

"Is there a guest room free, Varel?" Leonie asked, looking back at Shepard before back at the elder man. Varel nodded and summoned a servant to lead Shepard to the room. Giving a nod in thanks, he followed the servant to his room where he dumped his stuff by the bed. The servant bustled to light the fireplace, check on the water and if the bed was to his liking before bowing and leaving the room. Shepard looked around, noting that it was rather bare in comparison to his room in Highever.

Shepard had no idea what to do now so he decided to just wander around the keep, maybe even do some combat practice. He left his room and immediately nearly bowled over a female dwarf.

"Whoa, hey! Watch yourself!" she yelped.

"I'm sorry," Shepard said, righting himself. "I didn't mean—"

"No, no, it's fine," the dwarf said cheerfully and looking up at Shepard. "It happens. You a new recruit?"

"Recruit?" Shepard frowned at that, confused as the dwarf looked up. She blinked and tilted her head.

"Guess not. Hey, has anyone told you that your eyes kind of glow?" Shepard couldn't help but rub his temple; besides the Aedan thing, he was never going to get away from the eye question either, was he?

* * *

I'm going to apologize now since I haven't played Awakenings yet. ^^;


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Ghosts  
Author: May Chang  
Warnings: general, adventure, AU  
Pairings: M!Shepard + Ashley, M!Cousland x Zevran  
Disclaimers _Dragon Age: Origins_ and _Mass Effect_ are the property of Bioware  
Author's Notes: Shepard is a Paragon/Earthborn/War Hero/Infiltrator.

* * *

**Ghosts**

* * *

**Part Four**

It took about a week and a half to get to the Tower and Shepard couldn't help but squint at the building. There were some crude remarks he would like to say, but he was too polite to say it in present company. Present company include Leonie, Nathaniel, Sigurn the dwarf he nearly bowled over, and Anders who didn't look very happy to be there.

"Ah, home sweet home," Anders said snidely, looking at the Tower. Shepard scratched a cheek.

"You know, you can probably just stay at the inn instead of coming with us," Shepard said thoughtfully.

"If I did that, the templars are still going to drag me back to the Tower," Anders said with a sigh. "I might as well just walk in with you." Shepard shrugged before he followed after Leonie towards the ferry. The ferryman gave Shepard a suspicious look, as though he was trying to remember who he was and Shepard did his best to ignore the man.

They were met at the other side by two very large templars who glared at Anders. The mage just looked back with a cheeky grin. So far neither of the templars seem to notice Shepard and for that the commander was rather thankful. When they entered they were met by an imposing old man in armor and a smaller elder lady. The woman gasped in surprise while the armored man stepped forward, sword drawn and looking directly at Shepard. Shepard heaved a sigh as Leonie stepped between him and the templar.

"Aedan Cousland! By the Maker, you should be dead!" the elderly woman exclaimed.

"Sorry, I'm not Aedan," Shepard replied, looking over Leonie's shoulder. "My name is John Shepard. I guess you're Wynne, uh, I have a letter from Teyrn Cousland for you." The woman looked at Shepard, tilting her head as though to study him.

"He is no demon, if that is what you are worried about," Leonie added. "His Majesty passed on some of his knowledge to me, I would know if he is more than what you see." It took a moment before the woman nodded and looked at the templar.

"Greagoir, you can put away your sword," she said, putting a hand on his arm. Greagoir gave Shepard a critical look before he reluctantly put his blade away. "Yes, I am First Enchanter Wynne and this is Knight-Commander Greagoir. Welcome to the Circle."

* * *

Shepard decided that the Circle was rather... cold. Even that word didn't seem to describe the place well enough, but seeing all the templars in the hall, watching over the young mages who scurried about the halls, it was no wonder that Anders did his best in escaping from the place seven times. The windows were closed and Shepard was pretty sure that they were locked so no one can throw themselves out.

Yes, the Tower is somewhere he would not like to stay. Unfortunately he needed answers and that was going to take some time.

Leonie and the others left the next morning – Anders never looked so relieved in his life as he shuffled quickly past the templars – to return to Amaranthine for some Grey Warden business. He thanked Leonie for the escort and she pursed her lips as she gave him a thoughtful look.

"I do not know much about Aedan," she said with a sad smile, "but you remind me of another person, an old friend of mine. You act almost like him some days, and that tells me you are a good person." Shepard rubbed the back of neck, feeling rather embarrassed at that.

"Um, thanks," he replied. Leonie laughed softly before she bade him farewell and left the Tower. Shepard watched as they got onto the ferry and then returned into the Tower. Wynne was waiting for him with a smile and proceeded to lead him to the library.

"I do hope you find what you are looking for," she said. Shepard narrowed his eyes as he stared at the ocean of bookshelves and gave a sigh.

"That is a lot of books," he announced. "I don't even know where to start." Wynne tilted her head, giving the room a thoughtful look before she waved at Shepard to follow.

"I believe maybe around here," she said. "You mentioned that you may have been pulled into this world from your world. The Veil is a barrier between this world and the Fade so perhaps you broke through the Veil to come here."

"Hm." Shepard considered it for a moment. "I didn't feel anything when I was dropped here. Of course I was unconscious at the time, and apparently on fire. Wouldn't you feel something if you break through?"

"Hm... perhaps," Wynne replied slowly. "But as you say it, you are not a mage and also unconscious at the time. Mages and templars will be able to feel when the Veil opens or is weakened, but most people will not feel anything. The more sensitive ones have mentioned feeling colder in the areas where the Veil is weak." Shepard nodded at that, thinking about the ghost stories at home where an area would become cold for no reason due to spirits making their presence known. It certainly made sense now that he was in this world.

"I suppose you can start here," Wynne said, stopping in front of an area of the library. She gestured towards the shelves. "These are books about Veil, hopefully they will be helpful.

"I have a class to teach," she continued as Shepard moved towards the shelves to run a finger across the spines of the books. "If you have any questions one of the templars can point you to my office, or you can ask one of the Tranquils if you'd like."

"Tranquils?" Shepard turned to give Wynne a puzzled look. Wynne turned and gestured towards a person who was busy putting the books away.

"That's Oswin," she said. "He's a Tranquil in charge of the library. He's very knowledgeable about the book here and—" A smaller person suddenly appeared, cheerfully asking Oswin a question before she and the Tranquil left for another area of the library.

"That was a dwarf, right?" Shepard asked. So far she was the only dwarf that he'd seen in the Tower, and that made him curious.

"Oh, that was Dagna," Wynne said with a chuckle. "She is doing research about the theory of magic."

"So she's also a mage?"

"Oh, no, no she's not. Dwarves do not have the capability to practice magic like humans or elves," Wynne explained. "No, she's here because she wanted to learn and Aedan had wanted to..." She trailed off, her eyes suddenly pained by the mention of his name. Shepard waited a moment as Wynne collected herself.

"Forgive me, but it's almost been half a year since Aedan died," she said. "Dagna is here to study, and she gets along quite well with the mages in the Tower. As for the Tranquils, they are mages who have gone through the Rite of Tranquility to remove their powers. Don't be startled when you talk to them, the ability to feel is unfortunately removed when their powers are taken."

_You mean he's been lobotomized_, Shepard thought with a mental shiver.

"I see," he said instead in a neutral tone.

"Oh, but classes are about to start," Wynne said. "I hope you find something, Shepard."

"Thank you," he replied and watched as the First Enchanter left the library before he turned to look at the books before him. He scratched his head, took a deep breath, exhaled and started with the first book.

It took a while for Shepard to realize that he was being watched. He hadn't thought about it because he wasn't a mage to start with, but when he stood up for the third time that day to pick up another tome, he realized that there was a templar in the room. The commander furtively glanced around the room, noting no sign of any other mages, but another two templars in the room.

_I'm not so dangerous, am I?_ he wondered as he picked up a tome.

"Shepard?" He gave a start, turning to see Wynne approach him. "How are you doing? Have you found anything that will help?"

"No, not yet," he said. shaking his head. "I'm still not sure what I'm looking for, to be honest."

"Then perhaps you would like to take a break," Wynne said. "You did not have lunch yet, have you?" Shepard's stomach growled in response and he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. Wynne just chuckled at that.

"Come along," she said. "I haven't had lunch as well, can't teach the little ones on an empty stomach." Shepard nodded, placed the tome he had in hand on the table and followed after the mage. Behind him, he could hear the armor clinking and with a quick glance back, he saw that two of the three templars were following them.

"The templars can't think I'm dangerous," he said as he looked back at Wynne. "I can barely use a dagger to start with."

"Well, you do look like the Hero of Ferelden who everybody knows is dead," Wynne said calmly, "and the letter from Teyrn Cousland basically told Greagoir and I that you came from another world. As much as Warden-Commander Caron assures us that you're quite human, Greagoir doesn't want to take the chance." Shepard thought about it for a moment before he nodded.

"I understand," he replied as they entered the mess hall. He followed after Wynne, picking up a tray of food that consisted of fresh bread and some sort of stew. They took a seat by the windows, and Shepard mused in amusement that the windows were opened unlike the ones in the upper levels. Perhaps it was because they were way too small for anybody to squeeze through to jump.

Someone came by to place two pitchers – one black and one brown – and mugs on the table, and Shepard tried to see what the contents were.

"Ah, this one," Wynne said, placing a hand on the handle of the black pitcher, "is water. The other is ale, and it's quite good."

"Thank you," he said. Shepard picked up the pitcher with ale and poured it into one of the mugs, offering it to Wynne who lifted her brows and took it with a "thank you" and a smile. He then filled the other mug with ale and took a sip. It had to be some of the best ale he'd had and he gave the contents a surprised look. "You're right, this is really good." Wynne chuckled at that before they ate their lunch in comfortable silence.

About ten minutes later the younger mages who had finished their lunches and seen Shepard and Wynne arrive started to migrate towards the two. Shepard never quite understood why it happens all the time, but whenever there were children in his presence they tend to drift towards him. Children looked up to him as a hero when he was home, but here they looked up at him as a stranger who looked like the hero of their world.

They struck up conversations with Shepard, and he couldn't help but patiently respond to them in kind. Wynne was watching him with great amusement as one young child climbed onto Shepard's lap, and sat there as she asked Shepard random questions. He patiently replied to the child's questions as well as the other children, explaining to them that no, he was not the Hero of Ferelden, yes, he does look like the Hero, and yes, he was considered a hero in his own land.

"That's enough now, children," Wynne said. "You all have classes now, off you go." There were cries of disappointment for the children before they all reluctantly walked off to their classes. The one on Shepard's lap pouted as she looked up at the commander before she slid off and followed after. Shepard just shook his head and gave a soft snort of amusement.

"You are quite patient with the little ones, aren't you," Wynne stated. Shepard shrugged as he picked up his half-eaten bread and ripped a piece off to dip in his stew.

"I guess," he said. He popped the piece into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "It's always been like that, even when I was a kid. Some of the older kids didn't like it, but the younger ones, they always followed me around like I was some hero."

"Well, you did say you're a hero in your world," Wynne replied.

"Ha! That was just me being there at the right place and right time," he said. "Still I think it's one of the reasons why I got the job." He was silent after that, thinking back at the exact moment when the Council asked him to step forward and formally accepted him into the ranks of the Spectre. Kaidan and Ashley had been there to bear witness and...

Shepard realized he hadn't thought about Ashley in months. Just thinking of her name suddenly made him feel ashamed at how he could have forgotten about her. She always had his back during the primary missions and those assignments that the Alliance would give him to investigate. And then she had given up her life to make sure the nuke detonated on Virmire, taking about the test-tube krogans and geth.

"Are you alright?" Wynne asked. Shepard looked up and gave her smile. He wasn't sure how convincing it was.

"Yeah. Yeah," he replied. "I'm, ah... I'm just fine."

* * *

Shepard's head wasn't into the books when he returned to the library. He found it hard to concentrate now that guilt was settling into him. He idly flipped through some pages before he eventually gave up and decided to go for a walk. He stood up and approached the one templar who wasn't wearing a helmet.

"I'm going for a walk," he announced and crossed his arms. "I think I saw a garden around here, but I haven't a clue how to get there. Maybe you could...?"

"Of course," the templar said, bowing his head slightly. Shepard caught the suspicious look on the man's face but said nothing about it. The templar turned and left the library, and Shepard followed after him. He could hear the clinking of armor behind him, and was sure that at least one of the templar that was in the library had followed him. Shepard didn't really bother with it, just scratched the back of his head and sighed.

The garden was pretty big and Shepard slowly walked through, taking in the green and the sun. His spirit lifted a bit and he gave another sigh. He started to think about his crew, the threat of the Reapers, the geth, his mission.

And Ashley.

"Damn it," he whispered to himself. "Damn it."

* * *

Hooray, still have no idea how to explain how Shepard got to Thedas! :D


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Ghosts  
Author: May Chang  
Warnings: general, adventure, AU  
Pairings: M!Shepard + Ashley, M!Cousland x Zevran  
Disclaimers: _Dragon Age: Origins_ and _Mass Effect_ are the property of Bioware  
Author Notes: Shepard is a Paragon/Earthborn/War Hero/Infiltrator.

* * *

**Ghosts**

* * *

**Part Five**

It had only been two weeks and Fergus missed Shepard's presence. The commander had been a distraction to him so that he hadn't thought about That Room. Now that Shepard wasn't here, Fergus was slowly noticing That Room again. Fergus wasn't sure what to do as he had ignored That Room for a good six months, helping Shepard get acquainted to the castle, the people, the town. And then he also had his own business with rebuilding Highever.

So That Room had the door closed for half a year.

Fergus stood before the door of That Room and stared at the door knob. His heart was pounding, his hands were sweating and he drew a shaky breath. He reached for the knob, but he couldn't touch it. A few minutes later Fergus dropped his hand and stepped away from the door. He just couldn't open the door to That Room.

"Your Grace?" Fergus turned to see his seneschal Calum walking towards him. Calum glanced past him towards the door and back at the teryn with a troubled look. "Are you alright?"

"I'm... I'm fine," Fergus replied and took a deep breath. "What is it, Calum?"

"I came to give you my reports, Your Grace," he said. Fergus nodded and started walking towards his office with Calum at his side. "The rebuilding of the Chantry is going well and should be done by the end of next week. Captain Eoin has been doing well in keeping the peace, and his recruits are having no problems with the townsfolk. The alienage is also almost done though Elder Kegan would like more security; it looks like some humans have been harassing the elves."

"Do we have any elven guards?" Fergus asked.

"No sir."

"Perhaps Eoin should recruit a few, it would make the elves in the alienage a little more comfortable," Fergus said. "For now if Eoin has any guards to spare send them to the alienage. If they catch the harassers, give them a talking to for now. Any more is up to Eoin's discretion."

"Yes, Your Grace. This year's harvest is doing well despite Howe's attack – they didn't do anything to the farmland, thank the Maker for small things," Calume continued. "Trade between us, Amaranthine and Gwaren are doing well. Also Bann Guerrin of Rainesfere has sent word he will be arriving here by the end of the week."

"Teagan?" Fergus smiled. "It'd be good to see him again."

"There's just one other matter." Calum hesitated and then continued. "It's about Shepard." Fergus stopped and turned to look at Calum, feeling concerned.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Well, it's not about him, but what was on his person. A merchant was trying to sell something that looked similar to what Shepard had on him when we found him," Calum reported. He reached into his bag and handed over what looked like a gauntlet over to Fergus. "Perhaps you can return this to Shepard when he returns, Your Grace."

"Thank you, Calum," Fergus said as he took the object. He examined it and noted it did look a lot like the items Shepard had on him at the time. "And the merchant?"

"We have him in the dungeon, awaiting your judgment."

"He didn't steal anything else, did he?"

"I checked after Captain Eoin looked through it the first time. We think that's the only thing he had that didn't belong to him. All of his goods are legal, Your Grace."

"Just have him pay a fine of ten sovereign and release him," Fergus said with a sigh. "Hopefully that will make him understand that selling things that are not his will be pricy."

"Yes, Your Grace. I should let you know as well that the area where Shepard was found, there has been reports of... spirits there," Calum informed the teyrn, his brow furrowing. "Not many people go there to start with, but since Shepard arrived those who pass that area have reported strange things." Fergus frowned at that; the templars had taken a look at Shepard and had stated that the man was just a man.

"Did you ask the Chantry to send someone to look into it?"

"Yes, Your Grace," Calum replied. "I am expecting to hear from them in few days."

"Alright then. Anything else, Calum?"

"No, Your Grace."

"Thank you, Calum."

"Your Grace." The seneschal bowed and took his leave, and Fergus entered his office. He went straight to the chest, and unlocked it to place the gauntlet inside. Closing the chest and locking it, he then sat down behind his desk and sighed at the sight of papers on his desk.

That Room will just have to wait another day.

* * *

Shepard bolted upright in his bed in a cold sweat. It had been a long time since he had that dream, and he rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hands as he tried to stop his heart from racing.

The warning. Saren. The geth. Sovereign and the Reapers.

Ashley.

Shepard swore softly under his breath as he dropped his face into his hands. He dreamt of all the missions he had with her, taking out geths and test-tube krogans. He dreamt about Virmire, with her volunteering to work with the salarians. He could still hear her yelling at him to save Alenko over the sounds of gunfire. And then that decision, to save the woman he came to fall in love or his second-in-command.

Had he been wrong in leaving Ashley to her fate that day? It was a question he'd been asking himself ever since.

He got out of bed and padded over to the window, starring up at the sky. The stars were still out as dawn was starting to break, though Shepard didn't recognize any of the constellations. After a moment he noticed templars and a few mages going towards the temple. Shepard leaned forward, watching the procession curiously before he turned to pull on some clothes and walked to the door. Opening the door, the two templars by the door started as Shepard stepped out.

"Are people going to morning prayers?" he asked. "Is it alright if I joined?" The two templars exchanged looks before one of them nodded.

"Of course," the one who nodded replied. "Please follow me." He turned to go and Shepard followed after him, hearing behind him the other templar following them. Walking down the halls of the Tower was eerily quietly; apparently templars got up even earlier than the soldiers at Castle Cousland or even himself.

The temple was warm in comparison to the cool morning air outside. Shepard opted to taking the seat in the back, not willing to disturb the templars' morning prayers. His two guards joined their brethren and Shepard was sure that it was due to the fact that he was surrounded by people who were more than willing to take him out should he so much as sneeze. Shepard was glad that he wasn't a biotic or they'd had run him through the first time he'd use any biotic powers. Idly he wondered what Alenko would do if he'd come along.

Shepard wasn't a religious man, being agnostic by nature, but sitting in the temple let him feel more at peace. He didn't listen to the priestess talking - how strange to see a religion with only women as the religious authority, seeing as most were men on Earth - but reflected on Ashley.

Joker had been pretty broken up about Ashley after the Virmire mission. Shepard was sure that his pilot had blamed him for letting Ashley died, and still did even though Alenko had reassured the commander that Joker understood the reason why and didn't blame him. Garrus, Wrex, Alenko and most of the crew had all gotten pretty drunk the night they made off with the Normandy against orders, telling stories about the chief and giving toasts to her. Liara was pretty sad despite her and Ashley's differences, taking her drink in the cockpit with Dr. Chakwas and Joker. Tali stayed hidden in Engineering reminiscing with Adams and the other engineers.

Shepard himself had stayed in his cabin with a bottle of whisky alone, telling himself to continue with the mission, to find Saren, stop the Reapers. He wasn't sure how he managed to get through Ilos and the creepy Saren-husk-monster after polishing off the bottle by himself.

He blinked when a shadow fell over him and Shepard looked up to see Greagoir towering over him.

"Good morning, sir," Shepard said, blinking owlishly at the Knight-Commander. He glanced towards the pew and realized that the service was over. Greagoir seemed to be scrutinizing him for some reason, and Shepard wasn't sure if he'd done something wrong.

"Join us for practice," Greagoir announced and Shepard started; he'd been practicing alone at the Tower when the courtyard was empty, mostly with the bow. The problem with using the crossbow was the load time so Shepard had started practicing with the bow. He was getting the hang of it once he figured out the basics and taking account to the weight of the arrow with the wind. Still he would have like to work with the knife in case he had to fight face-to-face with an enemy so Greagoir allowing him to join their practice was a surprise.

"Of course, thank you," Shepard said. Greagoir just grunted and left, followed by three of his men. Shepard stood up and waited as the others passed before he too left the temple. He was looking forward to practice.

* * *

At the end of the week, Bann Teagan of Rainesfere arrived to Highever. Fergus went down to the courtyard to greet the bann, eager to see the man. Teagan had been popular before the Blight to the people, a man who treated the commoners as equals instead of someone below him. After the events at Recliffe though, he became something of a hero particularly in Redcliffe as he had pulled everybody together to fight against some evil force.

Fergus was amused by the sheer amount of people trying to get into bed with Teagan when he met with him after the Blight. The man was known to be quite flirtatious in the past but now he was doing his best to get away from them.

"Bann Teagan! How are you?" Fergus called out with a smile when he spotted the bann as he entered the courtyard. "Castle Cousland welcomes your presence."

"Teyrn Cousland," Teagan greeted, returning the smile and holding out a hand which Fergus took and shook. "It's been a while since I've been to Highever, it hasn't changed a bit."

"That's actually a good thing," Fergus replied with a chuckle. He and his people had done their best in returning the castle to looking like it was back in the past. Fergus made a gesture for Teagan to walk with him, and the two entered the main hall together.

"Ah, yes, I nearly forgot. Here." Fergus turned as Teagan pulled an amulet from his side pouch and handed it to the tern. He stopped in the hall, and looked the amulet with some confusion before he turned his gaze up at Teagan.

"It's a nice amulet," Fergus said slowly, "but—"

"It was Aedan's." Fergus looked back down at the amulet, still not reaching for it. "Alistair had it. Apparently Aedan left it in Alistair's room before the battle."

"Thank you," Fergus said softly as he reached for the amulet with a trembling hand. Taking it, he examined the amulet. The amulet was rather non-descript, very simple with a rune of the Chantry in front. When Fergus turned it over he thought he saw the face of someone familiar in the mirror on the back, but in an instant it was gone. Fergus mentally shook his head; perhaps he was just seeing things.

"Thank you," he repeated before he slipped it into his own pouch. "That was kind of His Majesty. How is he doing, by the way?"

"Not bad," Teagan replied. "I would never have thought Alistair had such a keen mind with politics. It turns out our king is almost as devious as Anora. In fact Eamon says that Alistair may be even better than Anora."

"I'm surprised," Fergus said, shaking his head. The two started walking again, Fergus leading Teagan to the guest room. "I had assumed he'd be more unrefined when dealing with politics due to his history." Teagan chuckled, nodding in agreement. They finally stopped before the room and Fergus turned to look at the bann.

"I shall see you at dinner then, Teagan," Fergus said and smiled. "It'd be good to have company for dinner. Until then please make yourself at home." Teagan nodded and Fergus left for his office. Paperwork was never done, and hopefully Calum had some news about the "ghost" area.

* * *

Dinner was a quiet affair, but Fergus appreciated the fact that rather than eating alone, Teagan was there. They discussed trade, politics and the state of the people in Denerim, Redcliffe, Gwaren and more. After a while when they retired to the main hall, they turned to talking about Eamon, Conner, Alistair... and Aedan.

"I've heard some...rumors recently," Teagan began slowly. Fergus raised an eyebrow as Teagan picked up his glass and took a sip of wine. "People are saying that, well, your brother is back from the dead." Fergus's other eyebrow shot up in surprise.

"The rumors have spread that far?" he voiced, unable to hide his surprise. "Maker, I thought it'd stay just in Highever and Amaranthine."

"Pardon?" Fergus leaned back, rubbing his forehead as Teagan frowned at him.

"The rumor is... half-correct," Fergus started to explain. "A man who looks exactly like Aedan arrived about six months ago. His name is John Shepard, and from what he had on him and his explanation, he is from another world."

"Another world?" Teagan asked, brows furrowing. "He's not some spirit from the Fade, is he?"

"No, no, he's human," Fergus replied. "There were templars milling around the castle for a week to make sure about that while the healers were keeping him alive. Although with the stories about the area he was found..."

"How there are now some spirits lurking around?" Teagan said. Fergus nodded.

"Calum told me that the templars who were sent to investigate came back. They reported that the Veil there is surprisingly weak, and it wasn't so before Shepard arrived." Fergus leaned back in his chair, giving the fire a thoughtful look. "Perhaps when Shepard arrived he broke through the Veil, though the templars said nothing about a tear. Still these spirit are a bit... unsettling."

"Have they done anything against the people?" Teagan asked, concerned. Fergus shook his head.

"No, it looks like the spirits are just... there," Fergus said. "They haven't tried to communicate with anyone, moved anything, nothing. The templars are rather confused by this but as the spirits haven't done any harm nor don't seem intent on it, the templars are fine with just leaving them alone." Teagan nodded as he took another drink of wine.

"Then I suppose I should warn you that sooner or later Zevran will be here," Teagan said. Fergus blinked, feeling confused. He was sure that he'd met all the people who had traveled with Aedan – Alistair, Leliana, Oghren, Wynne to name a few – but Zevran was a name he hadn't heard of.

"Zevran? Who is Zevran?" Teagan tilted his head and gave the teyrn a crooked smile.

"That is whole story itself, Fergus," Teagan said.

* * *

Have a happy Thanksgiving people!


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Ghosts  
Author: May Chang  
Warnings: general, AU  
Pairings: mention of Shepard x Ashley, Cousland x Zevran  
Disclaimers: _Dragon Age: Origins_ and _Mass Effect_ are the property of Bioware  
Author's Note: Shepard is a Paragon/Earthborn/War Hero/Infiltrator.

* * *

**Ghosts**

* * *

**Part Six**

Shepard had to admit he enjoyed training with the templars, even though the blades that half of them used were big enough to cleave him in two. Still it was good to do something other than running and target practice with a bow. He started through his cool-down exercises, deciding what to do next.

_A bath is definitely in order_, Shepard decided as he stretched. _And breakfast._ He sighed, turned to start a quick jog around the courtyard and walked into armor. Startled Shepard stepped back to see that he'd walked into the templar who didn't wear helmet.

"Sorry," Shepard apologized, "I didn't see you there." The templar tilted his head slightly before he spoke.

"First Enchanter Wynne would like to speak with you." Shepard blinked, looked down at himself and then back at the templar.

"I don't suppose I can get cleaned up first?" he asked.

"Of course," the other spoke and smiled faintly. "You can get some breakfast as well, the First Enchanter would understand." Shepard nodded and decided to forgo the jog, going to his room to clean up. He could hear the templar following after as he headed back inside. He entered his room, turning to see that the templar had stationed himself outside his door before Shepard closed his door.

Shepard took a quick bath, shivering a bit when he stepped out of the bath. Drying himself off, Shepard got dressed and caught his reflection in the mirror. He narrowed his eyes, running a hand over his head. His hair had grown a bit and Shepard frowned, wishing he could find someone who could cut it off. He hadn't let his hair grow this long since he'd joined the Alliance and frankly Shepard felt he didn't look good with long hair. Shepard rubbed his cheek, looking down at the razor on the dresser, and decided that it was okay to go a day without shaving.

He left his room, the templar following him, as Shepard headed towards the mess hall. The training left him starving and sore - it was one of the most intense training he'd had, and that was saying something for someone who made it through N7 special forces training. Shepard picked up a tray - warm, fresh bread with strawberry preserve, eggs, sausages and a mug of tea - before he headed over to an empty seat by the windows. When he was done with breakfast Shepard got up and put the tray away before he walked over to the templar from before.

"Where's the First Enchanter's office?" he asked.

"Follow me," the templar replied. Shepard nodded and talked after the templar out of the mess. "Are you alright, sir?"

"Sorry?" Shepard looked at the templar before him. "Oh, with the training today. Yes, I'm fine."

"No, I, uh, I meant yesterday. You did not seem well after lunch yesterday," the templar said, looking back at the commander. Shepard rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a bit awkward.

"Ah," he said softly. "Just... just thinking about home." The templar nodded and looked forward again. Shepard didn't bother saying anything else and after a few more minutes he was in front of the door of the First Enchanter. The templar knocked on the door.

"Yes?" Wynne called out.

"Shepard is here to see you," the templar announced. There was a pause and then the door opened. Wynne smiled at Shepard and then looked at the templar.

"Thank you, Cullen," she said with a smile. The templar nodded and took his position by the door. "Please come in, Shepard."

"Can I do something for you, Wynne?" Shepard asked as he entered the office.

"I do hope so," Wynne said as she went to take her seat behind her desk. She gestured for Shepard to take a seat and he sat down. "Greagoir is most impressed by your combat abilities."

"Really?" Shepard leaned back into his chair. "I actually got the impression that he wasn't." Wynne laughed, sounding genuinely amused by that.

"Greagoir has never been good at complimenting people," Wynne said. "But I've worked with him for a while, I know when he's less grumpy than usual." Shepard chuckled at that.

"Ah, but let me continue. Greagoir would like you to join two of his templars and a mage to check on a village a few days from here. Before you ask why it's because of your marksmanship. Your guardians have reported to him that you're very good with the bow."

"I'm better with a crossbow," Shepard said with a smile, leaning back in his seat. Wynne nodded.

"I'm sure you're quite bored with all those books," Wynne continued, "and you have said before that you're a soldier from your world. I wouldn't be asking you this, but we're still recovering from the attack." Shepard nodded before tilting his head.

"The Tower was attacked?" Shepard asked, puzzled. "Why would anyone want to attack a place in the middle of the lake, filled with mages and big guys with big swords?" Wynne chuckled.

"No, this attack was... from the inside," she replied sadly. Shepard frowned, leaning forward.

"Mutiny?" he asked quietly.

"In a way. Do you know the reason why templars are always watching over mages, Shepard?" Shepard shook his head and Wynne continued. "It is because we mages are dangerous."

"I got that," Shepard acknowledged.

"Do you?" Wynne said. Shepard lifted an eyebrow and Wynne continued. "We mages draw our power from the Fade, and it is because we draw our powers from there that those that reside in the Fade are drawn to us. We have a high chance of being possessed by the demons that live there."

"So... the templars, they're here to make sure that you don't get possessed," Shepard slowly said.

"That is part of the reason. The other is blood magic," Wynne said. "Blood magic is forbidden in the Circle as using it is to make a pact with demons." Shepard nodded, remember reading some fantasy stories where the antagonists would make a deal with the devil for power. He rubbed his chin as he gave Wynne a thoughtful look.

"The attack, was it by the mages who used blood magic?" he asked.

"Yes," Wynne replied and her eyes lowered. "We lost many good people that day. Most of the blood mages were turned into abominations and were dealt with by Aedan and the others." She was silent for a moment, as though she was reliving the moments before she looked back up at Shepard.

"We don't have enough templars right now," Wynne resumed, "and Lachlan is willing to go with the templars to help. He specializes in healing and earth magic so he will be very useful."

"I'd be happy to help," Shepard said, straightening in his seat. Wynne smiled and stood up from her seat, and Shepard followed suit. "But are you _sure_ you want me to help? Things have a tendency to explode when I'm around." Wynne laughed, sounding a bit sad.

"I know how that is, Shepard," Wynne replied. "Being around Aedan was like that as well, though there was less explosions and more pointy edged objects. Well, let's not keep Greagoir waiting." She walked out of her office and Shepard followed, glancing at Cullen who fell in step behind the two. After a few minutes they were in front of Greagoir's office. Cullen took his position at the door as Wynne knocked on the door and entered when Greagoir called for them to come in.

"Shepard. Wynne," Greagoir greeted gruffly, looking up from his desk. Shepard looked at the desk, seeing a lot of papers there and wonder what the knight-commander had to do that resulted in all that paperwork. "Wallace, Aoibhe and Lachlan should be here soon." There was a knock on the door and Shepard turned to see two templars - one male and one female - and a mage entered the office.

"Sir, you wished to see us?" the female templar asked. Greagoir nodded as he stood up from his desk.

"Shepard," Greagoir said, "this is Aoibhe. She and Wallace are going to a village that's nearby. There have been some reports about demons. We think it's the few demons who had been able to escape the Tower before we could finish purging the place."

"Should I know anything about these... demons?" Shepard asking, nearly tripping over the word. It was a concept that was just so foreign to him, like the ideas of darkspawn, magic and dragons. He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a bit self-conscious as Greagoir seemed to scrutinize him. "I've fought men but demons and monsters are a little out of my league."

"Understandable," Wynne said with a nod. "Most men would have trouble with fighting abominations and demons."

"Aoibhe and Wallace will explain on the road," Greagoir said gruffly. "The situation is of high priority so I would like you all to be on your way soon." Shepard caught Wynne rolling her eyes at the Knight-Commander as both Aoibhe and Wallace saluted him and left the room. Lachlan and Shepard both gave a slight bow to Greagoir and Wynne and followed the templars out of the office. Aoibhe and Wallace were waiting outside and both he and Lachlan stopped before them.

"Meet us at the lobby once you finished packing," Aoibhe said. Shepard nodded and walked away, rubbing the back of his neck as he walked up to his room. It took him a moment to realize that Cullen wasn't following him; in fact it would seem that he was without guards now. He wondered if perhaps the Knight-Commander had finally begun to trust that Shepard was human as he entered his room and quickly packed, slinging the pack over his shoulder. Dagger strapped on his side and his crossbow on his back, Shepard left his room and made his way to the lobby.

Lachlan was already there, waiting. He gave a shy smile at Shepard and he gave the mage a nod. Moments later Aoibhe and Wallace arrived. Wallace stopped and gave Shepard a critical look-over.

"You don't have any armor?" Wallace asked. Shepard shrugged.

"I wasn't expecting to get into a fight," he replied. "If you have any light armor..."

"We'll pick up some armor for you when we're on the road," Wallace said dismissively. Shepard nodded and followed the others out of the Tower. Strangely enough he found himself looking forward to the mission.

* * *

The splintmail armor fit well on Shepard. It also let him know that he seemed to be...smaller than before. Shepard rubbed the back of his neck, wondering how he had missed this. He chalked it up to the fact that he didn't really want see the scars all over his body.

Shepard had seen Wallace in the courtyard in the morning, and Shepard had to admit that the man was big. Suited up in the templar armor made him look massive and quite intimidating. He had short dirty-blond hair, a full beard and green eyes, and wielded a sword and shield. Shepard had the feeling that Wallace was trying to be Greagoir, being gruff and short with him and the others.

Aoibhe, on the other hand, was a pretty woman with dark brown hair and brown eyes. She was half a foot smaller than Wallace, but her armor was tailored to her size so she didn't look like she was swimming in it. Instead of a sword and shield Aoibhe had a greatsword on her, and Shepard couldn't help but wonder how she was able to wield a weapon that was almost two feet longer than her. He had figured that Aoibhe would be just as stoic as all the other templars in the Tower, but fortunately she seemed to have some sense of humor.

Lachlan was an elf, almost the same height as Aoibhe but definitely smaller in terms of muscles. Long black hair and green eyes, he definitely looked like someone from a fantasy novel. He seemed rather docile being around the two templars, and Shepard figured it was due to the fact that he was in the company of two templars. Shepard also had the strangest feeling that the mage was staring at him a little too much.

_A crush, I bet_, Shepard thought with amusement. He hadn't thought about relationships since he'd arrived. There had been some good-looking women and men who were equally attracted to him much to Shepard's embarrassment. In all honesty Shepard was surprised by how open-minded the people of Fereldans were when it came to same-sex relationships - they mostly passed it off as a quirk of character.

The village they were going to was a three-day journey and on the second night they made camp by a lake. Aoibhe was the first to take a bath, and while she was bathing Shepard collected firewood as Wallace set up the tents. Lachlan had begun heating water for tea when Shepard returned with an armful of dry wood. The three of them sat at the fire, listening to the splashes from the lake and drank black tea. A few minutes later Aoibhe strode back into camp, dressed in a loose shirt and pants and drying her short hair.

"That was great," Aoibhe said with a content sigh, taking a seat down next to Lachlan. She eyed Shepard and gave him a smile. His stomach flipped; Aoibhe was definitely attractive to Shepard andwow, this was awkward. He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling his face reddening before he got up.

"I'll go get cleaned up," Shepard said awkwardly as he walked over to his tent and grabbed a towel and a change of clothes. He walked off, conscious of both Aoibhe and Lachlan's eyes on him. Good to know he still had some effect on the libido of men and women. When he got to the banks of the lake, Shepard stripped down and walked into the water, wincing at the water. The water was cool but bearable, and Shepard dived in when he was hip-deep.

He hadn't gone skinny-dipping since he was sixteen and still running with the Reds. He had gone with few other girls and boys there, and Shepard shook his head as he remembered that he'd also lost his virginity that day too. He made his way back to the bank and grabbed the wash-cloth before he turned to go back to finish washing.

"Maker's breath!" Shepard jerked, turning to see Lachlan and Wallace both staring at him in shock. He hadn't even heard them approaching, and he looked around before he looked down at himself.

Oh.

"What happened to you?" Lachlan asked. Shepard shrugged as he continued into the water to finish bathing.

"Explosions, shrapnel and being set on fire," Shepard calmly said. He gave Lachlan a lopsided grin. "It was a bad day for me."

"I'll bet," Wallace muttered, eyes still roving over the commander. Shepard took the opportunity to dive under the water and pop back up to the surface, shaking his head. Wiping the water off his face and slicking his hair back, Shepard glanced over in time to see Lachlan's red face and looking uncomfortable.

"I'll, uh, I'll wash in the morning," Lachlan blurted out and quickly made his way back up to the camp. Shepard swallowed the urge to laugh, allowing himself to just shake his head in amusement. There was some splashing as Wallace walked into the water to his hips, dunking himself into the water and coming back up, wiping his face off.

"You were on fire?" Wallace asked. Shepard nodded.

"To be honest I was unconscious at the time," Shepard said and stopped. He may have been unconscious when he was on fire, but he had been conscious when he felt the air in the suit leaving, the heat as he fell through the atmosphere, the panic he had felt as Shepard realized that he was going to die.

"Shepard?" He looked up at Wallace who was giving him a concerned look. Shepard must have had some sort of expression on his face if Wallace was looking concerned. He shook his head and started back towards the banks of the lake.

"It's nothing," Shepard said over his shoulder. "I'll meet you back at the camp." He dried himself off, pulled on his clean clothes and walked back to camp.

* * *

The village was deserted when they arrived. Immediately Wallace and Aoibhe had their blades out, looking cautiously about. Shepard pulled out his crossbow, readying it as Lachlan cast some spell on himself, causing his skin to look like it was cracking.

"Where is everyone?" Shepard asked quietly as he scanned the area, the roofs of the houses, behind him.

"Don't know," Aoibhe replied in a hushed tone. "And I don't like it."

The whole situation was like a horror movie in the making to Shepard as he and the others made their way through the village. He did not like the feel of the setting at all, unreasonably expecting to see thorian creepers or husks to come out of nowhere with their horrible shrieks. Almost on cue a terrible shriek echoed through the deserted village, causing Shepard to turn and aim his bow at the sound. He didn't see anything that could make that sound.

"Andraste's flaming sword, this is not good," Lachlan breathed. "Perhaps we are too late."

"The villagers may be safe," Shepard said. "They could be hiding somewhere in the village or the Chantry."

"Let's go to the Chantry then," Wallace said, taking the lead. They slowly made their way through the village, Shepard still scanning the roofs for anything. There was another shriek, echoing through the deserted village and causing the commander to grit his teeth. They finally made it to the Chantry, taking in the torn-open doors. Aoibhe and Wallace shared a look before they started into the Chantry, followed closely by Shepard and Lachlan.

The Chantry was a wreck and Shepard spotted what appeared to be blood-spatters on the walls and floors. Things were not looking good for any surviving villagers to him. The benches were broken and flung about, and from what Shepard could tell the altar in the back had been badly smashed.

A sudden shriek pulled his attention to a dark being with huge arms and surrounded by dark fog. It had seen them and was making its way slowly towards them. Another being, no, two more of those demons, came out of nowhere and came at them with a shriek.

"Oh, that's not good," Shepard said just as the first demon gave another shriek and launched itself at the group.

* * *

Next chapter: ACTION ACTION ACTION WHEE!


	7. Chapter 7

Title: Ghosts  
Author: May Chang  
Warnings: general, adventure, AU  
Pairings: M!Shepard + Ashley, M!Cousland x Zevran  
Disclaimers: _Dragon Age: Origins_ and _Mass Effect_ are the property of BioWare.  
Author's Note: Shepard is a Paragon/Earthborn/War Hero/Infiltrator.

**

* * *

Ghosts

* * *

**

**Part Seven**

The... _thing_ let out a roar and launched itself at them. Shepard let fly an arrow and it struck the demon which let out a howl of pain. For some reason it continued towards the mage, swiping at the templars who were in its way with its claws. Shepard fired another two arrows at the demon, moving to keep himself in range of it and away from the others so he didn't hit them by accident. The demon howled, reaching up to grab at the arrows and looked right at Shepard.

What happened next confused the commander: the demon was looking at him, he was sure about that, but it didn't react at all to his presence. Shepard was sure that if it had any human expression it would be wearing a confused one right now. Aoibhe took the moment to strike at it with her greatsword, cleaving the demon in two. It shrieked and hit the floor.

"Get back!" Wallace shouted at Lachlan as he put himself between the mage and another shade, his shield taking the brunt of its swipe. He quickly rammed his sword into the demon and threw it off at the third shade. They collided and Shepard took the opportunity to shoot the third shade, aim true as he hit it in the head. Both hit the floor and tried to get up when Wallace and Aoibhe quickly walked over them and slammed their blades through the two demons.

"There are more!" Lachlan cried out and Shepard turned in time to see the mage cast something that sent what looked like a boulder flying at the shade. It knocked the demon back and Shepard took the opportunity to shoot an arrow at it. It slowly got up as two more shades appeared, screaming at them. Wallace and Aoibhe were busy attacking the two other shades, leaving Shepard and Lachlan to deal with the one from before.

Feeling that arrows weren't doing the trick, Shepard slung his crossbow back and pulled out his dagger. He moved quickly at the shade, able to move behind it and stabbing it in the back. The shade shrieked and Shepard yanked the knife out, jumping back as the demon reached back to claw at him. It turned, looked straight at Shepard and did nothing.

_What the?_ Shepard thought in confusion as the shade turned its attention back at Lachlan. He moved quickly to protect Lachlan by stabbing the demon again in the back. It shrieked again and this time when Shepard yanked the knife out and moved away from the demon, he jumped in front of the shade. As the shade looked back at Lachlan, Shepard took the opportunity to shove the knife into the shade's throat and yanked it up hard. The shriek came out as a gurgle and the shade hit the ground.

Shepard turned to the other demons as the shade before him turned to ash. Lachlan had turned his attention to helping Aoibhe and Wallace was handling the other shade alone. Seeing as Aoibhe and Lachlan had a handle on their demon, Shepard moved to help Wallace. He didn't reach for his crossbow, feeling that his dagger dealt a lot more damage and really he wanted to test something. Wallace struck the demon hard, sending it staggering back. Shepard took the opportunity to stab the shade in the back and it shrieked in pain. He pulled back and moved away as the demon flailed about, trying to find the source of its pain.

_They can't see me_, Shepard thought as he circled away from the shade. His brow furrowed in confusion but then Wallace was charging at the shade with a yell, slicing the demon in two. Aoibhe and Lachlan finished taking down the one they were fighting and for a while they all breathed hard in silence.

"Well. That was some welcoming party," Shepard said, panting. Aoibhe gave a short laugh as Wallace shook his head. Lachlan just continued to try to get his breath under control, though there was a faint smile on his face. "Speaking of which, I don't think any of those demons can see me." All three of them gave Shepard a sharp look.

"What do you mean?" Wallace asked, straightening. Aoibhe also straightened as she and Wallace gave a quick look at each other before focusing on Shepard. The commander gave a shrug.

"When I was fighting one demon with Lachlan, I was able to backstab it," Shepard started to explain. "It looked right at me when I pulled away but instead of going after me, it just went for Lachlan again."

"You're right," Lachlan said, frowning. "I didn't notice that before."

"It happened with the demon I was fighting as well," Wallace noted. "That last one was flailing about even though you were right in front of it." The templar gave Shepard a scrutinizing look before he shook his head.

"First thing's first: we should look for any survivors," Wallace continued. "After that the Knight-Commander and First Enchanter will want to know about your... ability to hide from demons." Shepard nodded, and they all turned to search the Chantry. When nothing turned up Shepard rubbed the back of his neck and looked around the broken temple before at the others.

"Should we go look around the village?" Shepard asked. Wallace seemed to be giving him a thoughtful look and took a seat on one of the unbroken tables.

"I've got an idea, Shepard," Wallace said. "How about you go out and check out the village?"

"What?" Shepard replied in confusion. Lachlan looked horrified by the question while Aoibhe gave Wallace a look of disbelief.

"You said it yourself, Shepard," Wallace explained. "The demons don't see you. Right now you're the perfect person to go look for the villagers, not only because you can sneak past them but also because you can clear a path for them and us, and still be perceived as a friendly face to the villagers." Shepard crossed his arm as he raised an eyebrow at Wallace.

"Sure, but we can't be totally sure that I'm invisible to all demonic presence, can we?" Shepard said. He uncrossed his arms and started to pace. "I'm use to being invisible but I'm invisible by hiding in the shadows, but this... this is a little too out there."

"True, but right now you're our best chance to finding out what happened," Wallace said.

_And again, everything is on my shoulders_, Shepard thought with a mental sigh. _At least this is a one-time thing. I hope._ He stopped pacing to stand before the three and shrugged.

"Alright, I'll do it," Shepard said and then grimaced. "Can't say that I'm looking forward to this."

"I don't blame you," Lachlan muttered.

"Would you at least search through the homes?" Shepard requested. "Just having me run around looking is going to take a pretty long time to find anything."

"He's right," Aoibhe said in acknowledgement. "We can at least do that while he runs around in creepy basements and cellars."

"Thanks," Shepard replied drily. Aoibhe gave him a sweet smile as Wallace nodded and stood up.

"Might as well get started," Wallace said. Shepard nodded and they all headed out of the Chantry and began their search. Most of the homes didn't have cellars and they weren't attacked by any more demons though their shrieks can still be heard echoing through the village.

It was when they reached one of the bigger homes towards the back of the village that Shepard got to try out the idea of whether he was invisible to demons only. Aoibhe had found the trapdoor to the cellar and Shepard was shooed down. When he reached the ground Shepard pulled out his crossbow, something that reassured him as much as when he had his pistol.

He suppose that the cellar was standard as cellars goes – shelves of food and a door that led somewhere. Seeing nothing around him Shepard walked over to the door and cautiously opened it. Inside were three demons, two looking like it was made of fire and the third a shade. The three didn't seem to notice as the door slowly opened and Shepard slipped inside. The shade looked over at the door with Shepard closed it, causing the commander to freeze but then it turned away.

_Is my heart still beating? Oh yeah, it is_, Shepard thought, feeling his heart racing. Seeing as none of the demons moved, Shepard took a chance and walked right in front of the three demons. None of them moved at him, just staring into space and making low noises. Shepard put away his bow and pulled out the knife, flipping it in his hand nervously. His heart was pounding when he walked right next to the biggest one and waved a hand in front of its face.

Nothing happened.

"OK, this is interesting and disturbing at the same time," Shepard said aloud. Still no change from the three. "...Right." He then walked behind the big one and proceeded to stab it in the back. The demon howled in pain as Shepard yanked the knife out and pulled back as the demon clapped a hand on its back. The other two shrieked, turning to see as the big one howled. None of them noticed Shepard at all.

Shepard gave a grim smile as he took the opportunity to take care of the demons. While the big one was searching around for its attacker, Shepard decided to take out one of the smaller ones. It looked rather fiery and Shepard could feel the heat coming from it. Still he had to take them out - it's always better to make sure the path was mostly safe before looking for survivors.

His training with the dagger proved effective as he slammed his blade into the back of one of the fire demons. It howled as Shepard drew back and finally ended in a gurgle as its throat was cut. The commander moved quickly to the other side as the demon fell, the other two howling in confusion. The downed demon suddenly exploded and Shepard ducked behind some barrels to avoid the flames.

"Well, at least things still explode with I'm involved," Shepard muttered to himself. He paused and started laughing as he suddenly remembered Liara and Garrus giving him dirty looks when he set off the neutron purge in Noveria. They had managed to get into and up the elevator far enough when the labs blew, but it still rocked the lift. At least Wrex seemed to enjoy the explosions Shepard had caused, especially when they had caused the geth dropship to fall off of the Exo-Geni building.

The laughter died off when he thought of another major explosion.

Virmire still hurt.

Shaking himself out of the memories Shepard looked up to see the two demons moving around, trying to find out what happened to their companion. Shepard stealthily moved out of cover and towards the other little demon – he didn't need to do stealth but damn, was it an old habit to do so – and stabbed it in the back. It reared back with a howl, causing the shade to jerk its head at Shepard's direction and giving him a minor heart-attack. Shepard stabbed the fire demon once more and then moved quickly to the barrels, diving behind them just the demon hit the floor. Seconds later it exploded and the shade shrieked as it was burned.

_Last one_, Shepard thought with a deep breath. He looked over at the shade who was now shrieking angrily as it looked around the room. Pulling out his crossbow Shepard aimed and fired a couple bolts at the shade, causing it to shriek and turn towards Shepard's hiding spot. Shepard slung the crossbow onto his back as he moved out from behind the barrels and circled behind the demon, blade out. The shade moved and proceeded to throw the barrels out of the way, stopping to look around in confusion and giving Shepard the perfect opening. He stabbed the demon deep into its back and then backed away quickly as it howled again. When it turned around, Shepard stabbed the shade in the throat. It gurgled out a death-rattled and fell to the floor, and Shepard took a deep breath as he watched the shade disappear.

Putting his blade away Shepard looked around, searching for any clues that there may have been someone mortal in the room. When nothing turned up he walked back upstairs with a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck when he came out of the cellar and out the door.

"Anything?" Aoibhe asked as he turned to look at the commander. Shepard shook his head and glanced around.

"Had an encounter with three demons and I'm totally invisible to them," Shepard said. "Where are Wallace and Lachlan?"

"Over there," the templar said, pointing to a house down the road. "You were able to take out three demons?"

"Well, the invisible to demon part really helped," Shepard said. Aoibhe nodded and tilted her head as she looked at Shepard. The commander felt that the templar was studying him at the moment and he just shrugged. "How about we catch up with the other two?"

"Sure, and you can go searching for more demons in the cellar," Aoibhe said cheerfully. Shepard rolled his eyes as he and Aoibhe walked to the house. Wallace and Lachlan stepped out to meet them as they approached.

"Nothing?" Wallace asked.

"No," Shepard said, shaking his head. "But my new ability really helps in taking them down." Lachlan made a thoughtful noise as he looked at Shepard, and again the commander felt that he was being studied.

"No other cellars yet," Wallace said. He was about to say something else only to be interrupted by a horrible shriek. His brows furrowed. "I'm getting a little tired of all that screaming."

* * *

Shepard was freaking tired. He had gone through another three more cellars and killed the demons that were in there. Thankfully Wallace, Aoibhe and Lachlan had done their fair-share of demon-killing in some of the homes they checked on. Still it was way too easy for Shepard to just walk in, stab the little ones that exploded and then take out the shade that were still burning from the explosion.

_Something's bound to go wrong for me_, Shepard thought darkly as he walked out of the cellar and out of the house, dusting off his hands. They haven't found what was making all the echoing shrieks in the village yet nor any signs of the villagers. Frankly Shepard was getting a little worried, wishing he had his crew at his back and a gun in his hands. They were fast to find people and had the firepower to take out anything that was in their way.

Still Shepard wasn't sure _how_ his crew was going to react to fighting demons. He wasn't sure if religion would come into play as they were pretty diverse to start with: krogans and quarians have something to do with ancestor worships, turians believe in spirits but those spirits aren't good or evil, asaris will probably think the demons were bad energy or something, and humans will believe they're fighting the devil's minions or something along that line.

The two templars and mage weren't outside when Shepard exited the house. With a sigh Shepard started up the road, pulling out his crossbow in readiness. There were only two more homes left and what looked like a meeting hall. The door to the last house opened and the three walked out so Shepard jogged over to meet them.

"Nothing but a few more demons," Aoibhe reported, shaking her head. They all turned to look at the large building. "Perhaps they are all hiding in there."

"Most likely," Shepard said. "I haven't found any signs of the villagers, just demons." He paused and then gave a sigh.

"Why is it always the last place we look?" he muttered. Aoibhe gave an amused snort as they group started towards the hall.

The meeting hall was empty and just as trashed as the Chantry. Wallace and Aoibhe carefully walked into the building, blades out as Shepard and Lachlan followed behind, the commander with his crossbow out. It was eerily silent as they made their way down towards the podium. Behind the podium there were two doors on the right and and one on the left.

"I can check out the left one," Shepard said quietly. Wallace nodded and he, Aoibhe and Lachlan went through one of the right doors and Shepard proceeded through the left door. It looked like he was in a sitting room area or something as there were only two rooms. No demons were around and after a thorough search for the obvious and not-so-obvious Shepard left for the main hall. Aoibhe was there to meet him and she gave him a nod.

"There was nothing," she reported. "Wallace and Lachlan went ahead through the last door, we might as well catch up." Shepard nodded and he followed after the templar, finally meeting Wallace and Lachlan before some stairs that led down.

"The cellar, again?" Shepard asked. Even in his ears he couldn't help but sound petulant. Wallace seemed amused by that as he gestured towards the stairs.

"We'll be going with you this time," Wallace said. "It's the last place to look." Shepard nodded and they all proceeded down the stairs.

* * *

The sight of blood smeared on the floor and splattered on the walls and ceiling was a bad thing. Shepard was in the lead as he was probably the best in taking care of the demons and finding the villagers. Behind him was Aoibhe who was trailing after him with a bit of distance between them in case he had to move. Lachlan followed after her with Wallace bringing up the rear, his shield ready to protect the mage.

For once Shepard's training paid off in this world; he moved quickly and quietly down the halls, kneeling down to look around corners carefully before he looked back and gave Aoibhe a nod to say that the coast was clear. It was a few minutes later when he finally upon a lone villager standing in the middle of the hall, her back towards him. Without thinking, Shepard held up a fist, signaling the group to hold position as he frowned at the woman.

_Something's not right_, he thought warily, looking up and around the villager before he studied her. She just stood there, unmoving, making no indication that she noticed anything. _Something's definitely not right._

Shepard looked around, looking for something to throw before he spotted some pebbles on the ground. Picking one up, he tossed it towards the villager. The clacking sound as the pebble hit the floor cause the woman the turn slightly, giving a growl. Shepard had been right – the villager was, well, not looking really human to him. She – no, _it_ – looked blankly at the pebble but still made no move before it faced forward once again. He eased back and quietly made his way back to the others.

"There's a... well, I don't think it's a villager anymore," he whispered. Aoibhe and Wallace's expressions went blank while Lachlan bent his head down as a look of sorrow crossed his face. Shepard glanced over his shoulder and then looked back. "So do you think my power of invisibility extends to zombies as well?"

"I'm not sure," Lachlan murmured after a moment. "It's a demon in a mortal corpse. It probably can see you through mortal eyes."

"Let's go with the assumption that it can see Shepard then," Wallace said quietly. "Aoibhe and I will get rid of it." They all nodded and stood up, Wallace taking the lead this time. Treading as quietly as they could - well, as quietly as two people dressed in armor of steel could anyway - Wallace and Aoibhe rounded the corner and attacked. The zombie didn't even have a chance to alert any of its companions as the templars cut it apart.

"Remind me to never get on their bad side," Shepard said as he looked at the hacked-up zombie. Lachlan chuckled at that as the two walked over to the two templars. The mage knelt down by the body and gave it a critical look.

"Sloth demon," Lachlan said. He stood up and ran a hand through his hair. "So far it's only rage demons, shades and shambling corpses. This keeps looking better and better."

"The Veil is still pretty intact," Aoibhe noted. "How are they getting in?"

"A portal?" Shepard asked. "The blood mage may have created one to bring these through the Fade."

"Yes, yes, you're right. Not a portal but something similar," Lachlan said, crossing one arm across his chest and lifting his other hand to his mouth. "The First Enchanter mentioned a similar scenario at Soldier's Peak. A blood mage for the Grey Wardens had opened up the Veil in their battle against King Arland and wasn't able to close it until the Hero of Ferelden and his companions arrived."

"So we're looking for a portal leading to the Fade," Shepard summed up.

"Yes," Lachlan replied with a nod. "I think I should be able to seal it, but we need to get rid of the blood mage first. He may have enchanted the surviving villagers or worse to keep us from the portal."

"Then let's go," Wallace said. Shepard nodded and took point again, crossbow at the ready. It was a while later when the cellar changed to what looked like an underground cave. Shepard frowned as he paused before the entrance of the cave, studying the opening for a moment. It looked like the walls had been blasted opened and then someone moved away the debris and the parts of the walls that hadn't been blown away. Upon entering the cave Shepard found a villager lying on the floor. He quickly moved to the man, shifting the crossbow to his right hand as he knelt down and placed his left hand on the carotid artery on the man's neck. Shepard gave a quiet sigh of relief as he found a heartbeat before he turned to signal the others.

"Found one," Shepard said quietly. Lachlan moved to kneel by the man's side, already casting a healing spell as Wallace and Aoibhe stood by, alert for any enemies.

"He's... fine," Lachlan said, frowning. "Why is he—?" The villager's eyes suddenly snapped open and he quickly grabbed the mage's throat as though to strangle him. Shepard in an instant smashed the butt of his crossbow across the man's head, rendering him unconscious again. Lachlan fell back, coughing as he rubbed his throat.

"Andraste's flaming sword, he's enthralled!" Wallace swore. "The blood mage must have bewitched the villagers." Shepard grimaced; it was Zhu's Hope all over again except he didn't have any anti-thorian grenades with him.

"I don't suppose you know any sleep spells," Shepard asked, looking at Lachlan. The mage frowned and shook his head.

"Best I can do is probably a mind blast spell that'll stun my enemies for a minute at most," Lachlan informed the group. "But it'll take me at least thirty seconds to recover for another blast."

"That should be enough time for me and Wallace to knock some of them out," Shepard said. He looked at Aoibhe. "I don't suppose you're able to knock people out with just the flat of your sword?"

"Not without beheading them," she replied drily. "Wallace and you are going to have to work fast. I can protect Lachlan long enough for him to ready the spell again." Shepard nodded and he and Lachlan stood up. The plan was set and now it was time to find the blood mage.

* * *

I was originally going to write more, but this seemed like a good place to stop for now. I have to figure out the next battle scene. ^^;

**[Edit: 12/21/10]** Crap, I messed up on Aoibhe and Wallace's weapons so that's been edited.


	8. Chapter 8

Author: May Chang  
Warnings: general, adventure, AU  
Pairings: M!Shepard + Ashley, M!Cousland x Zevran  
Disclaimers: _Dragon Age: Origins_ and _Mass Effect_ are the property of BioWare.  
Author's Note: Shepard is a Paragon/Earthborn/War Hero/Infiltrator.

* * *

**Ghosts**

* * *

**Part Eight**

Fergus was worried. It's been over a month already and there was no word from Shepard. Teagan had long since gone back to Rainesfere and now That Room was starting to creep back into his mind. He sat down at his desk and began to write a letter to Wynne, hoping that at least she would tell him what Shepard was up to.

His hand bumped into Aedan's amulet and Fergus looked down at it. He had taken out the amulet from his pouch and left it on the desk untouched. Again for a moment he thought he saw a familiar face smile at him and then it was gone. Picking it up Fergus looked over the amulet, wondering where Aedan had picked it up and why it made him see vague but familiar faces. There was a sudden knock on the door and Fergus looked up from the amulet.

"Come in," he called out, putting the amulet down on the desk. His seneschal entered the study and bowed.

"Your Grace," Calum greeted with a bow. "I have the weekly reports."

"Alright, let's have it," Fergus said with a sigh.

"The alienage is up and running now," Calum began, "and Elder Kegan sends his thanks for providing the extra guards. Captain Eoin has rounded up those who had been harassing the elves and gave them a warning. Those who ignored them were made to pay a fine."

"That's good," Fergus murmured.

"There has been a good increase in guards," Calum continued. "The elves in the alienage have taken up some positions as guards. This is especially good since there have been some reports of bandit activities on the outskirts of Highever."

"Perhaps we should recruit some elves for the military then," Fergus said, leaning back in his chair. "I don't like the idea of bandits prowling near our borders. Tell Sir Reilly to look into posting more soldiers on the border."

"Of course, Your Grace," Calum said. "The harvest is nearly finished and the villagers are preparing for the final harvest festival. Merchants from Amaranthine, Denerim and Redcliffe are already beginning to arrive Also it would seem that there are... proposals for you to look at."

"Proposals?"

"Marriage proposals." Fergus stared at Calum, mind going blank before he shook his head.

"I... I can't think about that," he said quietly. "Not yet. I know it's only been half a year already, but... no, no, not yet."

"Of course, Your Grace," Calum replied with a nod. His eyes softened for a moment. "I will put them aside for now. There have no trouble with the ghost area thus far though there are still signs of spirits there. The Chantry still doesn't know why but the spirits are harmless to people. They're still keeping an eye out just in case." Fergus nodded and continued to listen and Calum rattled off a few more reports before he was dismissed. He then finished the letter, looked through more documents before he gave a tired sigh.

He needed to move; perhaps some combat practice will improve his mood.

* * *

Shepard was at point again, this time moving noiselessly in the shadows. He had yet to see any signs of demons, shambling corpses or villagers, but then again he didn't think it was going to be easy. He paused, crouching in the shadows to glance back at the others who were coming before looking forward again.

It was about ten minutes later that he came upon a group of villagers. Shepard stopped, squinting down at the group as he tried to discern if they were all villagers and not zombies. Satisfied the people were indeed part of the living, Shepard then checked for any demons or a person who might be a mage before he turned and made his way back to the others.

"I count eight villagers," he whispered. "Didn't see any demons, zombies or a person resembling a mage of sorts there."

"Good," Wallace murmured.

"I need to get in the middle of them to use the spell on all of them," Lachlan said quietly. "The range is limited." Shepard frowned at that.

"I don't think dropping you into the middle of a crowd of people with pointy objects is a good idea," Shepard whispered. Aoibhe's lips thinned before she looked down, her shoulders shaking in silent laughter. "I think the best chance is to send you and Wallace on one side, and Aoibhe and I could flank them. I know I can knock out a few with the butt of my crossbow."

"Acting as decoy might help," Aoibhe said. "We put on a show, Lachlan knocks out the people in the back and then we can work on knocking out the ones we missed."

"It's a sound idea," Wallace agreed. With that they all stood up, Wallace and Lachlan heading one direction, and Shepard and Aoibhe in another. Shepard was surprised at how silent the templar behind him can move as they quickly moved to an area above the villagers.

"Hm... should we just climb down and say hello?" Shepard whispered. Aoibhe studied the group before she looked at the commander with a smile. Instantly Shepard was reminded of Ashley and how she was about to do something nuts.

"Well, we did say we're going to be distracting them," she said, sheathing the greatsword on her back.

And then she jumped off the cliff and on to three of the villagers. Shepard couldn't help but look up at the ceiling for a moment in exasperation as he listened to the surprised shouts from the other villagers and the sound of metal hitting skin before he too jumped off the cliff. Aoibhe had effectively knocked out one of the villagers from her jump and proceeded to render another unconscious with her fist.

Shepard quickly moved up to one of the villagers and swept the person's legs out from under him. A quick jab with his left sent another staggering back as the other hit the ground with a surprise grunt. Shepard quickly punched out the one on the ground, knocking the man out before he moved back to the other. Apparently the speed was a surprise to the villagers and then they were knocked forward, causing the commander to back up in surprise. He looked back to see Lachlan and Wallace approaching them, the latter giving Aoibhe a long-suffering look.

"Really?" Wallace asked in exasperation. "Really?" Aoibhe just smiled at him cheerfully.

"So... how long will they be out?" Shepard asked, gesturing to the unconscious villagers. "Long enough for us to find a crazy blood mage?"

"Hopefully," Lachlan said, looking at the villagers as well. He toed one of them before he looked at the others. "I say we start looking for said crazy blood mage."

It was another twenty minutes with Shepard at point when he found more villagers... and zombies. Shepard paused, tilting his head slightly as he squinted at the zombies. They looked like clothed Thorian creepers to him and he shuddered at that. He then scanned the vicinity for a blood mage or other demons, but found none. Quietly Shepard made his way back to the others.

"Eight villagers... and about ten zombies," Shepard reported in a low voice. Wallace scowled at that, most likely unhappy at the idea that people were killed to house demons in their corpses. Shepard had to agree with him, thinking about the husks the geth had created through unwilling human victims. He didn't like the idea of innocent people dying.

"How do we want to play this?" Shepard asked lowly. Apparently that terminology wasn't used as he received three confused looks. "Er, how do you want to proceed?"

"Lachlan and I will deal with the villagers," Wallace said. "I think you and Aoibhe will be enough to take care of the zombies." Shepard and Aoibhe nodded, and again they split up from each other. Pulling out his crossbow, Shepard led the female templar towards the group and stopped, crouched down nearby. Aoibhe crouched down next to him and scowled. The zombies and villagers were mixed together so it was possible to injure the villagers when taking out the zombies.

Glancing around, Shepard spotted Lachlan and Wallace making their way towards the group, Lachlan already charging up the mind blast spell. He quickly aimed and shot one of the zombies in the head, causing it to stumble back and weakly touch the bolt in its head in apparent astonishment. A second bolt embedded itself in the zombie's throat and it staggered for a moment before it keeled over. The villagers gave no reaction but the other zombies did, growling as they moved towards Shepard's location.

"Nice shooting," Aoibhe said as she stepped out of cover, drawing out her greatsword.

"Thank you," Shepard said, also stepping out of cover, crossbow trained on another zombie. He fired, hitting it in the head again before he slapped in another bolt, cocking it and firing it into its throat. "Two zombies down, eight more to go." The villagers turned at the sight of them, about to move in when Lachlan cast his spell, rendering them unconscious. The zombies were all knocked forward but unlike the human villagers, weren't knocked out as they slowly got back onto their feet. With the innocent villagers out of the way, they all focused on the zombies.

"Fuck!" Shepard swore, ducking and falling back from one of the zombies. He quickly shot it in the head as he pulled away from it, scowling as the zombie turned to follow after him with a snarl. "Well, at least you're right about demons able to see me through mortal eyes, Lachlan!"

"Good! To! Know!" the mage grunted out as he cast a healing spell on Wallace before he whacked one of the zombies with his staff. The templar himself cut down another as Aoibhe let out a war cry and proceeded to charge into two of the zombies. Shepard just swore again as he shot up the zombie that was chasing him before whacked another in the face with the butt of his crossbow.

Jumping back and loading his crossbow Shepard was about to shoot the zombie when something hit him hard. He saw stars as he stumbled to the side and into the cave wall. Shepard still shot the zombie in the head, effectively taking it out before he turned to see what had hit him. An energy ball came flying at him and Shepard ducked, feeling a rain of rocks fall on him as the energy blast hit the wall above him.

"Found the blood mage!" Shepard shouted, rolling away from the blood mage's view. His head ached and he felt like Wrex had just punched him in the side. Another zombie fell and Shepard looked up to see that the others had finished off the last of the undead. Lachlan strode over to Shepard and cast a healing spell on him and in seconds Shepard felt a lot better. Lachlan pulled out a vial of some blue liquid and drained it as Aoibhe and Wallace moved forward. Wallace took a peek around the corner then jerked back as another energy blast came out.

"Oh, this is going to be fun," the templar muttered. Shepard gave a grim smile as he totally agreed with Wallace's assessment of the situation. Lachlan cast a spell on the templar, causing a glyph of sorts to appear under his feet. Wallace readied his shield and looked at the others. "Follow me then."

With his shield up, Wallace turned the corner and made his way quickly towards the blood mage. Aoibhe, Lachlan and Shepard followed after him, the commander wincing as an energy blast bounced off the templar's shield. Somehow Wallace managed to keep moving forward despite the bolts fired by the blood mage and Shepard moved slightly to the side to see what was in front.

"Wallace, villagers straight ahead!" Shepard called out. Wallace let out an annoyed snarl before literally bashing his shield into the villagers. A mind blast spell from Lachlan felled about a third of the villagers as Aoibhe struck one with the pommel of her greatsword. Seeing as he couldn't shoot the villagers, Shepard smashed the butt of his crossbow against one of the villager's head, knocking him unconscious before he slung it onto to his back and got into a ready position. Clearly this wasn't to be expected by the villagers and before long, he had flipped a few onto the ground and incapacitated the others with brutal efficiency.

Good to know that his hand-to-hand combat training was still at tip-top shape.

Lachlan was busy healing and doing some other spells to aid Wallace and Aoibhe, and it looked like whatever spells the mage cast on Shepard had him fighting even better and not feeling tired. Still it would be better if he or one the others could get to the blood mage as she was still shooting them with energy bolts and looking rather smug.

There was a howl and Shepard jerked to see that the blood mage had summoned demons. A whirling blue portal was at her back and the commander figured it was the portal to the Fade that Lachlan had talked about before. Still seeing the demons, Shepard knew he could take down without help.

"I've got the demons!" he yelled out to the others, pulling out his knife and running towards one of the fire demon. He liked hitting those first as it would injured the others, and since none of the demon could see him to stop him, Shepard quickly slashed the fire demon and ducked behind one of the big ones. The fire demon hit the ground and exploded, fire burning the other demons and causing them to howl in pain. Shepard moved out of his cover and took down another fire demon, again using a big one to cover him as the demon exploded.

Sure enough taking out the fire demons had confused the rest of the shades and gave Shepard the opening to take down the other demons one by one. He narrowly avoided an energy bolt from the blood mage and he turned to look at her, taking in her furious expression as she threw another bolt at him.

"Take out the mage, Shepard!" Wallace shouted. "We've got the rest!" Shepard barely nodded as he turned and ran towards the mage, backstabbing a few shades on the way. A couple fell from his attack and Shepard gave a grim smile as he dodged another bolt from the blood mage, sheathing his blade and pulling out his crossbow.

"Why aren't you attacking him?" she screeched at the demons, throwing another blast at Shepard. He ducked behind some rocks to avoid the blast then jumped over them and continued on towards the mage. The blood mage gave a frustrated growl and threw another bolt. This time Shepard dodged the bolt and fired a bolt of his own at the mage. Luck was on his side as it caught her in the shoulder, causing her to stagger back and stared in bewilderment at the arrow protruding from her shoulder. "What—?"

The commander quickly slapped in another bolt, drew it back and fired it at the mage. The bolt went through the mage's neck and Shepard heard a surprise gargle as she grasped at her neck, touching the bolt. She looked at Shepard, mouth opened and still gargling as she fell to her knees. Mouthing something the blood mage fell forward, fingers clawing the ground. Shepard moved towards her, slinging the crossbow onto his back and pulling out his knife to make sure that the woman was dead. It took her a few more seconds before expelling one last breath and Shepard checked to make sure.

The sound of bodies dropping to the ground caused Shepard to look over his shoulder, seeing the still-alive villagers passed out on the ground. The few demons he passed were quickly dispatched by Aoibhe and Wallace. With one more glance at the body of the blood mage Shepard got up and jogged back over to the templars and the mage.

"She's dead," he reported.

"Good," Wallace panted out, bending over a bit. Aoibhe was equally out of breath, her greatsword in one hand as she ran her other hand through her hair, wiping away the sweat. Lachlan moved over to Wallace, casting a healing spell on him before he sat down heavily, pulling out another vial of blue liquid and drinking it. Shepard looked over at the gateway to the Fade as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He frowned after a moment, feeling a moment of familiarity.

"Shepard?" The commander started, turning to look at Aoibhe who had called out to him. "Is something wrong?" He opened his mouth, closed it as he glanced back at the gate and then looked back at Aoibhe.

"I... I don't know," he said with a frown. "Something about that gate is... really familiar, like I've been through it before." Shepard wanted to walk up to the portal to... to...

"I think you better close it now, Lachlan," Shepard said, taking a step back and giving the portal a wary look. "I... it..." He wasn't sure what to say, unsure if he wanted to go through the portal as his mind wanted to or get as far away from it as his gut told him to. Usually when his mind and instinct were conflicted, it was usually his instinct that was right. The mage and templars were looking at him with a confused expression before Lachlan stood up and walked over to the portal. He made a thoughtful noise as he looked over the whirling blue gate. Shepard took a deep breath, feeling rather anxious for some reason before he caught a concerned look from Aoibhe.

"I... I think I can do it," Lachlan said after a while. "Yes, I think I can, except I'm pretty sure that there are going to be demons coming out to stop me from closing it."

"We can take care of the demons," Shepard said with a shaky grin. "Just concentrate on closing that portal." Lachlan gave him a nod, turned to look at the gate and took a deep breath before he started to work. Shepard absently flipped his knife as he nervously scanned the room for any hostile demons before he looked back at the portal.

"What are you feeling?" Aoibhe asked, looking at the portal. Shepard thought for a moment.

"It's... I feel... the portal is calling me," Shepard said slowly. "I feel like I need to go through but my gut is telling me that it's a bad idea." Aoibhe frowned, looking from Shepard to the portal and then back at him. Whatever she was going to say was interrupted by a roar as shades made their presence known.

"Lachlan?" Wallace called out as he readied his sword and shield. "Work faster."

* * *

Fergus was surprised to see Nathaniel arriving at Castle Cousland the next day. He had honestly thought that the man would do his best to stay as far away from Highever and Fergus himself. Still Fergus was glad to see the Howe even if his men were leveling hostile looks in Nathanial's direction.

"Nathaniel!" Fergus greeted with a smile. The Howe stiffly bowed his head in Fergus's direction.

"Your Grace," he acknowledged. "I apologize for the surprise visit."

"Not at all, a Grey Warden is always welcomed," Fergus replied, shooting a look at his own men. He could tell that the guards were not pleased with the idea that a Howe was welcome, even if he was a Grey Warden. Gesturing for the Grey Warden to follow him, Fergus made his way to the study. "What brings you to Castle Cousland?"

"...letter from the commander," Nathaniel replied after a moment. Fergus could feel the tension from the man behind him and he mentally sighed. He couldn't blame Nathaniel for being wary in a castle filled with people who hate him due to his father's actions. Personally Fergus had hated Rendon Howe for killing his family, but Nathaniel had nothing to do with the attack as he had been in the Free Marches then. Arriving at the study Fergus motioned for Nathaniel to take a seat as he closed the door and then moved to to his desk. The Howe pulled out an envelope and handed it over to Fergus without a word, and the teryn took it.

Fergus sat down, opened the letter and quickly read through it before giving a frown. Calum had reported about bandits on the outskirts of Highever, but from what the Warden-Commander wrote it would seem that it was a bigger problem that either he or Calum had thought. Fergus was also concerned by the conspiracy to murder the Warden-Commander.

"Did you encounter any bandits on your way over here?" Fergus asked. Nathaniel gave a snort, leaning back in the chair and crossing his leg.

"I highly doubt bandits would want to fight a person who can kill them in more than twenty ways," Nathaniel replied snidely. Fergus chuckled at that, though he still made a note to get Sir Reilly to look into the situation. He put the letter down, absently tapping his fingers on the letter.

"Lady Caron also mentioned a conspiracy...?" Fergus asked. Nathaniel's expression darkened.

"Ever since His Majesty bequeathed Amaranthine to the Grey Wardens, the banns there have been... annoyed," Nathaniel explained. "Of course they were all loyal to father, and seeing as the Warden-Commander is an Orlesian they're doing their best to get rid of her. Don't worry, Caron knows what she's doing."

"Of course," Fergus replied neutrally. Most Orlesians seem to enjoy intrigue and with the way the conspiracy was done, it was probably infantile to the Warden-Commander. "Now that that's out of the way, would you like to stay for the night?" Nathaniel was silent for a moment before he spoke.

"Why?"

"You're a guest here," Fergus replied, confused by that. Nathaniel shook his head.

"No, not that. Why are you being nice to me?" Nathaniel asked. "After everything my father has done to you and your family, you should be doing your best to hang me."

"Ah." Fergus rubbed his forehead. "Well, as you said, it was your _father_ that attacked. You, on the other hand, had nothing to do with Rendon Howe's action to my family. Why should I blame you for what your father did?" Nathaniel seemed to pale at Fergus's explanation, sinking lower in his seat.

"I see the Cousland kindness still runs deep," he replied softly.

"Stay the night, Nathaniel," Fergus said. "It'd be nice to talk to you again." Nathaniel was quiet for a moment before he nodded. Fergus smiled, feeling like he won a battle.


	9. Chapter 9

Title: Ghosts  
Author: May Chang  
Warnings: general, adventure, AU  
Pairings: M!Shepard + Ashley, M!Cousland x Zevran  
Disclaimers: _Dragon Age: Origins_ and _Mass Effect_ are the property of BioWare.  
Author's Note: Shepard is a Paragon/Earthborn/War Hero/Infiltrator.

* * *

**Ghosts**

* * *

**Part Nine**

Shepard collapsed onto the bed at the inn, groaning in relief. Three more thuds sounded in the room as Wallace and Aoibhe both sat down heavily onto their respective beds and Lachlan flopped down on his. Holding off demon attacks as Lachlan worked to close the portal had been long and brutal. The only thing to compare the whole situation with was when he, Kaidan and Wrex had ran through the Citadel, battling their way through loads of geth to reach Saren.

Lachlan had managed to close the portal and Shepard, Wallace and Aoibhe were able to get rid of the last of the demons quickly after that. Wallace checked to make sure that the Veil was firmly closed, Lachlan at his side in case, as Shepard and Aoibhe checked on the villagers. The people had been understandably confused as to what happened to them and where they were. In any case after Wallace deemed the Veil close, they led the villagers out of the caves and back into town where the people insisted that the group spend the night, free of charge.

Shepard groaned again before he sat up and took off the splintmail. He was looking forward to getting cleaned up and a good meal. Rooting through his bag, Shepard pulled out the cleanest shirt he could find and pulled off the one he was wearing. One critical sweep of the shirt told Shepard that he needed a bath if only to get rid of the dirt and blood off of him. It also told him he needed to sew up the tears in the shirt.

There was a knock on the door opened and a maid entered with an armful of robes and towels, her mouth opening to say something before she froze. She paled as she looked at Shepard and took a moment to collect herself.

"The, uh, the bath is ready downstairs, sirs," she said, looking instead at Wallace, Aoibhe and Lachlan. Shepard rubbed the back of his neck, watching as the maid handed out the robes and towels to the others and hesitated before handing a set to him. "We can launder your clothes if you leave them up here."

"It'd be nice to have clean clothes," Aoibhe murmured as she and Wallace stood up to divest themselves of their armor. The maid bowed and after a quick look at Shepard left the room. The commander just gave a sigh before he sat down and pulled off his boots. Sliding the robe on and facing away from the others, Shepard pulled off his pants and tied the robe closed before he turned. Lachlan was ready to go, but the templars were still getting their armors off.

"Lachlan and I will go down first," Shepard said. There was a grunt of acknowledgement from Wallace, and with the towel in hand Shepard left the room, followed by Lachlan. He was looking forward to getting cleaned.

The bathing room was a large room with wooden walls to separate the four tubs from one another, and a curtain to give the user some privacy. Shepard chose the farthest one from the door and closed the curtain. Spotting the soap and small washcloth, Shepard took off his robe and hung it before he eased himself into the steaming bath. He gave a content sigh at the hot water, the first hot bath he had in a long while. A quick dunk under water and Shepard sat up, wiping the water from his face before he started washing up.

Shepard's mind wandered while he was washing up. He thought about the portal, wondering why it had felt like it was calling him to go through. From what he read and heard, the Fade was mostly filled with spirits and demons, so for it to call to a mortal being such as himself was unexpected. As he started to wash his hair – _man, I haven't had to wash my hair since I joined the Alliance_, he thought ruefully, _I wish I could just shave it off_ – he puzzled over if there was a connection between him, the Fade and the demons unable to see him.

Another quick dunk under the water to rinse himself off, Shepard climbed out of the tub and toweled himself off before pulling on his robe. Tying it up, he opened the curtain and stepped out to go back up to the room.

The main room went quiet as Shepard passed through, and the commander puzzled over what had made the occupants nervous as he gave a quick glance over. With a mental shrug Shepard continued up the stairs to the room. Aoibhe and Wallace's armor were there, telling him that they were most likely taking their baths now. On Shepard's bed, there was a set of clean clothes laid out, his boots brushed clean by his bed. It looked like the maid had taken their clothes and armor for cleaning.

He had just pulled on his pants when the door opened and a quiet gasp sounded. Shepard looked over his shoulder to see a male servant holding his splintmail armor. The man had turned pale at the sight of Shepard and the commander rubbed the back of his neck, figuring it had to be the scars.

"No need to be frightened," Shepard said, causing the man to start. "It only looks bad." The man opened his mouth, snapped it shut and handed over the armor to Shepard which he took. He quickly left the room, leaving Shepard feeling rather confused.

Dinner was mutton stew and warm, fresh bread and the group dug in heartily. Taking a drink from his mug of ale, Shepard noticed that the people were looking over at them; more specifically looking at him.

"Did I miss something?" he asked quietly to the others. Wallace looked up, looked out at the people in the dining room then back at Shepard.

"They think you're the Hero of Ferelden," he replied. Shepard blinked, looked over at the other diners then back at the table.

"Oh. Oh _crap_. I forgot about that," Shepard said, placing his forehead in his hand as he leaned against the table. Wallace gave an amused snort while Aoibhe chuckled. Lachlan looked at Shepard with a frown, studying his face before he gave a shrug. "How did you find that out?"

"The maid from before came up to take our clothes," Aoibhe answered. She took another spoonful of stew before she continued. "Apparently some of the people in the inn were from Lothering. They remembered seeing Aedan Cousland there with His Majesty during their Grey Warden days before the town was wiped out by the darkspawn. The maid was there to see Cousland's body get a hero's funeral."

"Oh." Shepard rubbed the back of his neck. "Damn, so she saw a ghost."

_That also explains the fellow with my armor_, Shepard thought. It had been awhile since anybody had mistaken him for Aedan Cousland and all of a sudden Shepard felt rather self-conscious. After a moment he gave a shrug and continued with the meal.

The whole thing can hopefully be explained in the morning.

* * *

Shepard bolted upright in his bed, breathing hard as his heart thundered in his chest and in a cold sweat causing him to shiver. Something was screaming at him, calling for him desperately, needing him. He hadn't felt this way in a long time, not since he'd arrived, but now it began to haunt him. Something had happened after the whole portal incident that caused the visions to start up again. His head falling into his hands, Shepard tried to slow his beating heart as he wondered why the visions began again.

Actually now that he thought about it, Shepard wondered why the visions were slightly different from the visions he had before. There were visions of the Reapers, but at the same time there was something else, something like...

_A call for help?_ Shepard thought. He puzzled over it, wandering why he was hearing it and frighteningly enough if there was a Prothean beacon in Ferelden. He had a distinct idea of where the call was coming from and he gave a quiet sigh before he looked at the other occupants in the room. Luckily they were all still asleep and Shepard laid back down again, staring at the dark ceiling.

It was going to be a long night, he decided, and if he was going to be having visions again, it was going to be a long time before he would have a decent night of sleep.

* * *

Aoibhe and Wallace weren't in the room when Shepard woke up. Neither was Lachlan for that matter, but all of their belongings were still in the room. Shepard knew he'd always wake up at six in the morning, his internal clock never letting him oversleep, so he sat up and sleepily gave the wall across from him a blank stare for a moment. When the walls gave him no answer Shepard got out of bed and got dressed. Their clothes had been returned to them while they were at dinner, cleaned and surprisingly repaired.

The need to go search for the beacon tugged at Shepard as he pulled on his boots, and the commander puzzled over it. He was unsure about looking for it as the last few times he'd encountered a beacon Shepard's brains seemed to get more scrambled. Liara had helped with unscrambling parts of the messages, as did the Cipher, but damn did he have headaches for weeks.

The main room was quiet except for a young man who was probably the innkeeper's son and the maid from last night. The maid looked up as Shepard walked in and her eyes widened before she looked away. Shepard suppressed the urge to sigh before walking over to the young man.

"Yes?" the man asked, looking up. His expression changed from sleepy to shock before Shepard could say anything. "Maker's breath! You're Aedan Cousland! But you're suppose to be dead!"

This time Shepard did sigh.

"No, I am _not_ Aedan Cousland," Shepard said, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. "I just _look_ like him."

"...really?" the man asked, sounding skeptical.

"Really," Shepard replied. "My name is John Shepard and I'm just... passing through."

_Sort of_, he thought privately.

"Are my companions still at the Chantry?" he asked. The man nodded, though he still gave Shepard a doubtful look. "Right, thank you." Shepard then turned to leave the inn, ignoring the staring young man and the frightened maid. Outside Shepard absently looked both ways, rubbing the back of his neck as he turned towards the Chantry. The morning air was slightly chilly and it felt like the beginning of fall on Earth, a thought that made Shepard want to frown.

Earth had always been a touchy subject for him; Ashley once asked about his life on Earth and he had side-stepped the question. When he met Finch by Chora's Den the commander could feel both Kaidan and Ashley's eyes on him, surprised to hear that Shepard had ran with the Tenth Street Reds. Both of them wanted to ask Shepard about it, but he stonewalled them, not wanting to tell them about his past.

Shepard didn't like himself much back then.

He met the others at the door to the Chantry. Aoibhe and Wallace were both in full armor, looking sternly on as the people filed out of the Chantry. Lachlan looked bored but he gave Shepard a smile as the commander approached the three.

"Morning," Shepard greeted with a nod. The two templars merely nodded as Lachlan chirped out a good morning to Shepard. The back of his neck prickled as Shepard felt curious looks thrown his way and heard the sound of whispers passing between people, most likely talking about how he looked liked Aedan. Shepard did his best to ignore it as he chatted quietly with Lachlan and enjoyed the morning air.

"Right, I am starving," Aoibhe announced when the last of the townsfolk were gone. Her stomach rumbled in agreement and Wallace rolled his eyes as Lachlan snickered. "I am so ready for a nice hot breakfast." They started back towards the inn and Shepard mulled over how he was going to break the news.

"Are there going to be templars coming here?" Shepard asked curiously as they entered the inn. The young man at the desk looked up and Shepard ignored his stare as he and the others sat down at a table. A serving girl came by with clean plates and cutlery, quickly took their orders and walked away.

"The Reverend Mother sent a letter today for them," Wallace said. "For now Aoibhe, Lachlan and I will stay and help out. Hopefully the templars will be arriving soon from Redcliffe.

"You may have to go back to the Tower by yourself, Shepard," Wallace continued. "I'm sure that you want to get back to searching through the library." The serving girl returned with four steaming mugs of tea and two baskets full of fresh bread before leaving and returning with plates of sausages, eggs and potatoes. Wallace fished out some coins and handed it to the girl who gave them a slight bow and left them to their breakfast.

"Actually I've got some business elsewhere," Shepard started slowly as he stabbed some sausages and placed them on his plate before he picked up a piece of bread. "Out, uh, out east." He ripped off a piece of the bread and chewed on it as the others looked up to give him a curious look.

"East?" Aoibhe asked, sounding puzzled. "Why are you going east? And where in the east?" Shepard picked up his mug of tea, taking a sip as he tried to figure out how to explain his need to go east.

"I have to go east," Shepard said after a moment. "I think there was lot of trees and... people with tattoos on their faces." Wallace, Aoibhe and Lachlan all stopped eating, the mage going pale by the description. Shepard frowned, not liking the way they looked.

"You want to go to the Brecilian Forest?" Lachlan asked quietly.

"Yes?" Shepard replied. "I think I have to."

"Have to?" This time it was Wallace who asked. "Is it because of the portal?" Shepard chewed on another piece of bread, his eyebrows furrowing as he thought about it.

"I think the portal may have something to do with it," Shepard said slowly. He thought about telling them about his visions, unsure if they would believe it or not. Luck had been on Shepard's side that his team and Captain Anderson had believed in him and his visions. In the end he decided against telling them about his visions before and only the vision he received last night. "I think there may be answers in the east since I had a dream about the portal and where I could find some answers."

"Are you sure your answers are in the Brecilian Forest though?" Lachlan asked. Aoibhe and Wallace had started eating again while Lachlan didn't touch his food. Shepard just gave a shrug as he ate.

"I'm guessing that the Brecilian Forest is not a good place to be," Shepard said.

"Well, the Dalish won't like you poking around in their forest," Lachlan replied primly. "They don't like humans at all and may shoot you on sight."

"Story of my life," Shepard muttered. He gave a smile at the mage. "Well, I'll figure out something when I get there. You should eat something before Wallace and Aoibhe eat all the food." Wallace snorted while Aoibhe grinned. Lachlan just gave Shepard a concerned look before he started eating again.

* * *

East. That was all Shepard knew, just that he had to go east.

After breakfast the commander had gone up to their room, packed up his belongings, donned his armor and armed himself. He paused, suddenly realizing one important thing.

Money.

_Huh_, Shepard thought. The whole time he'd been in Ferelden Shepard hadn't really paid for anything. He didn't buy anything in the markets when he was in Highever because he didn't need anything. Food hadn't been a problem since he ate with Fergus and the mages when he was at the Tower, and when he was on the road the others were the ones who supplied the provisions. Even the armor Shepard wore was bought for him by Wallace.

"Something wrong?" Shepard turned to see Aoibhe at the door and he rubbed the back of his neck, feeling rather embarrassed.

"I just realized that I'm broke," Shepard said with a grin.

"Broke?" Aoibhe walked in, looking him up and down with a frown. "You don't seem like you're injured." Shepard blinked, confused for a moment before he shook his head.

"No, no, not injured," Shepard said with a laugh. "I'm, uh, I don't have any money. I didn't really think about it until now."

"Oh. That can be a problem," Aoibhe said with a nod. "Good thing Wallace noticed then." She tossed the commander a pouch which he caught. The sound of coins clinking told Shepard what was contained in the pouch. He looked at it then back at the templar, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Your travel funds," she replied with a smile. "It's not much but it's enough for provisions."

"Thanks," Shepard said. "Least I don't have to procure the coins the hard way." He smirked as Aoibhe lifted an eyebrow in curiosity. After a moment she shook her head.

"You sure you want to head over to the Brecilian Forest by yourself?" she asked. "The roads are a little more dangerous these days." Shepard rubbed the back of his neck and gave a shrug, knowing she was right to be a little more than concerned about his traveling alone.

"Yeah, I think I should be fine," Shepard said. "Can't hit worth a damn with a blade, but I can shoot straight." Aoibhe nodded, still with a doubtful look on her face. She then gave him a smile.

"One last thing then," Aoibhe said. Shepard quirked an eyebrow and before he said anything, the templar leaned in and kissed him on the lips. She pulled back and smiled at him. "Be safe Shepard."

"...yeah," Shepard said, a little stunned as he watched Aoibhe left the room. "Sure."

* * *

It took Shepard a good two weeks to reach the Brecilian Forest. During his travels he managed to come upon a few villages and also met a few bandits on the road, the latter he was able to circumvent most of the time. They weren't attacking anyone at the time and were apparently not very perceptive – with the exception of Liara as she wasn't trained to fight to start with, Shepard's team would have noticed Shepard within minutes. The one group that Shepard hadn't been able to avoid was towards the edge of the forest. He managed to lose them in the forest before they fearfully pulled back out.

_Pretty sure they'll think I'm going to die by the Dalish_, Shepard thought as he caught his breath behind a large tree. _Looks like I better keep on my toes._ He pulled the hood of his cloak over his head, thankful that he had at least had the foresight to bring that along when Shepard left Highever. The forest was definitely a lot cooler than when he was out in the open.

The feeling of the beacon continued to pull east for him. Pulling out his crossbow Shepard carefully made his way through the forest, eyes skimming for anything out of the ordinary. It had been a long time since Shepard was in a woodland territory, seeing as most of the worlds he'd been on have been turned into cities or farmland. If he wasn't going through hostile territory Shepard would have liked to take the time to admire the area.

There was no fire that night as it might signal the Dalish of his presence. Instead Shepard spent the night up a tree to avoid any predators on the ground and to give him a good view for incoming hostiles. He didn't sleep well at all, plagued by the Prothean visions, from both his world and this world. Still if he had slept like most people Shepard would have missed the stunning sunrise.

_Damn, that's a sight_, he though in wonderment. _You don't see get to see that anymore._ It made Shepard think about the Skyllian Blitz all of a sudden and he shifted his crossbow a bit. It had been the longest day and night of his life, but the next morning the sunrise had to be one of the most beautiful thing he'd seen, right before the Alliance finally arrived to drive back the rest of the pirates. Shepard roused himself from the memory, climbed down the tree and went back to his own mission.

He found what appeared to be a huge camp later that day. Shepard crouched down, checking his area for any guards before he moved to higher ground. So these were the Dalish elves. Shepard looked down at them from his position before looking up again, trying to get a sense of where the beacon was. It felt vaguely like it was coming from the east, and unfortunately it meant passing through the Dalish camp. Shepard wished he had his omni-tool if only to be able to use his tactical cloak; if he used it at the right times he could get by quickly and probably before the time ran out.

He scanned the camp, pulling his hood off so that he could see the area a little better. Looking for the best way to skirt by the camp without raising the alarm Shepard blinked when a flash of red caught his eyes. Shepard leaned forward a bit, squinting to see.

_Isn't that—?_

An alarm sounded in his head and Shepard jerked back in time for an arrow to embed into the tree where his head moments ago. Crossbow up, the commander found three Dalish elves with their bows trained on him and looking ready to kill.

_Damn_, he thought. _This isn't good._


	10. Chapter 10

Title: Ghosts  
Author: May Chang  
Warnings: general, adventure, AU  
Pairings: M!Shepard + Ashley, M!Cousland x Zevran  
Disclaimers: _Dragon Age: Origins_ and _Mass Effect_ are the property of BioWare._  
_Author's Note: Shepard is a Paragon/Earthborn/War Hero/Infiltrator.

* * *

**Ghosts**

* * *

**Part Ten**

Shepard wasn't quite sure what to do in this situation. On one hand Shepard would be well within his rights to kill them, but on the other hand that would set every single Dalish elf out to hunt him. As he tried to figure out the best way to get out of the situation he noticed that one of the elves faltered. The elf looked at the other two, said something in another language before he gave Shepard a hard look.

"You, _shem_, drop your weapon and stand up," the Dalish ordered. Seeing as it was probably a good idea not to piss off the people in the forest, Shepard unloaded the crossbow and dropped it to the ground. He stood up and was immediately shoved against the tree, a blade to his neck.

"That's some greeting," Shepard said, frowning slightly as he raised both his hands. The Dalish said nothing as he quickly patted the commander over, pulling out the knife. He then studied Shepard's face for a moment.

"Cousland?" the Dalish asked finally. Shepard blinked, surprised that the elf knew Aedan. Lachlan had said that humans were usually driven out or outright killed if they were found in the Brecilian Forest.

"No, my name is John Shepard," he replied. The elf tilted his head, frowning before he let Shepard go and picked up the dropped crossbow.

"You will come to camp with us. Keep your hands at your side, John Shepard," the elf said in a clipped tone. "If you try anything, Idris and Anwen will shoot you dead."

"Rhys, what are you doing?" the female elf asked. "Why are we bringing this _shemlen_ back to camp?"

"Because the Grey Warden's companion is in the camp and I'd rather not upset her if we killed him," Rhys retorted. He looked at Shepard and his frown grew more pronounced. "Your eyes glow."

"It does that a lot," Shepard replied with a shrug. Rhys looked at Shepard suspiciously before he turned and led the way back to the camp. The commander followed after the Dalish, glancing over his shoulder at the other two elves before looking forward. As soon as Shepard stepped into camp, he felt eyes falling upon him as he walked over to the person who was most likely in charge of the camp. The woman looked up from her conversation with the redhead and her eyes widened in surprised before she turned to the other. The redhead looked at him and did a double-take in surprise.

"Shepard!" Leliana exclaimed.

"Uh... hi," Shepard greeted with a smile. "Sorry to drop in unannounced." Leliana just stared at him before she shook her head and turned back to the Dalish leader.

"Lanaya, this is John Shepard," the bard introduced. "He is a friend." Lanaya looked from her to Shepard, her eyes narrowing before she looked at Leliana.

"His eyes glow," Lanaya said slowly. "Are you sure he's not some demon using Cousland's form?"

"The templars confirmed he was human," Leliana explained. "Shepard's face only looks like Aedan's, that is all. He's more of a rogue than a warrior." Lanaya looked back at Shepard with a frown.

"Lanaya, he is a friend," the bard insisted. "I vouch for him."

"Alright," Lanaya said after a moment. She looked at Shepard's guards. "Return his weapons, he is with Leliana." She then looked at Shepard and her gaze narrowed.

"Be warn though, _shem_, we will be watching you," she said.

"Of course," Shepard said with a nod. Rhys turned around and handed over Shepard's weapons before he and the others gave Lanaya a nod and left. Shepard slung the crossbow onto his back and sheathed the knife before he looked up at Leliana.

"What are you doing here, Shepard?" she asked. Shepard looked up at the bard and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well... it's kind of complicated," Shepard said slowly, "but I'm looking for a beacon that's located somewhere nearby." He crossed his arms and tilted his head slightly as Shepard gave Leliana a smile.

"So. What brings you here?"

"Looking for an old... hm, perhaps acquaintance would be the best word to describe her," Leliana replied thoughtfully. "A beacon is nearby? What beacon? And how do you know?"

"It's kind of calling me," Shepard answered with a sigh. "This is kind of a first for me, just so you know. It's a Prothean beacon from my world though the last time I encountered one, I found it through luck. I've never had a beacon call out for me." Leliana crossed her arms, a thoughtful look on her face.

"I only need to pass through the camp," he continued with a shrug. "I hadn't planned to get captured, but then I saw you and, well, here I am."

"What are you going to do when you find this beacon, Shepard?" Leliana asked.

_Well, first I'm going to have a fit when the beacon uploads a ton of information into my brain, and then I may black out for a few hours after that_, Shepard thought.

"Hopefully I'll be able to get some answer about how they got here and if there's a way back," he replied instead. Shepard uncrossed his arms, glancing around the camp before he looked towards the direction of the beacon. "It feels like the beacon is coming from over there."

"I'll join you then." Shepard started at that, giving the bard a surprised look before he frowned.

"I thought you were looking for someone?" he asked. "I mean, I don't mind the company, especially with a beautiful lady as yourself, but I don't want to—"

"It's okay," Leliana said with a smile. "She's not here anymore so I'm pretty free now. You are quite the charmer, Shepard." Shepard smiled back at her; she really was a beautiful woman and the accent made Leliana quite exotic to the commander. He cleared his throat, suddenly feeling a bit nervous.

"Well, uh, did you need anything else here? I would like to...," Shepard started, gesturing towards the edge of the camp.

"No, we might as well get going then, Shepard," she replied. "This will be fun!"

* * *

Lanaya had wanted to send a couple of warriors with Shepard and Leliana when they were leaving, but Leliana had charmingly declined the offer and that Shepard knew where he was going. Truthfully Shepard sort of knew where he was going in a vague sort of sense, but there was no need to tell the Dalish leader. Still Lanaya was worried and gave them some health poultices and supplies – and a suspicious glance at Shepard – before seeing them off.

It was the second day after they left the Dalish camp when Shepard came upon the entrance. It would have been easily missed by anybody as it looked like a burrow for some of the smaller woodland creatures. Shepard knelt down, pulled out his knife and dug at the hole, clearing it away to expose what looked like a door. He'd seen this door before on Ilos and knew they had arrived.

"It's down here," Shepard announced as he sheathed his blade. The bard frowned as she crouched down next to him and looked at the door.

"I have never seen a door such as this before," Leliana said before she took out her bow and an arrow. Shepard slid down and started to search for a switch to open the door. He found it near the base of the door on the right and, brushing off the dirt, flipped it. Only one side of the door slid halfway open, but it was enough for Shepard to peer in.

"It's too dark to see anything," he said after a moment, looking up at Leliana. "I'm going to open the door now." She nodded, readying her bow as Shepard shifted and pushed the door all the way open now. It was eerily quiet and dark to the commander and he sighed.

"I don't suppose you have a lantern or something," he called out to Leliana. She shook her head and Shepard rubbed the back of his neck before he climbed up again.

A sudden rustle behind them caused Shepard to whip out his crossbow as Leliana took aim. Two Dalish appeared out of the brush, weapons lowered. Shepard recognized one of the elves as Rhys, the one who had captured him before. The other elf he didn't recognize but the suspicious looks she was shooting at him and Leliana told him that she didn't trust them at all.

"Rhys. Mithra. What are you two doing here?" Leliana asked as she lowered her own weapon slightly.

"We followed you two," Rhys answered, looking at Shepard. Shepard sighed at that and lowered his weapon. "While the Keeper trusts your words, I do not." Leliana looked over at Shepard who just shrugged in response before she looked back at the two.

"Then do either of you have torches?" she asked. Rhys exchanged look with the other elf before he shook his head. Shepard nodded and he started to put together a few torches, handing them to Leliana. The bard put away her bow and took the torches from Shepard, handing a couple to the Dalish.

"Sorry, Leliana, you're going to have to use your knife until I can find the light," Shepard said.

"Find the light?" Shepard nodded absently as he took out the flint and lit the torches before he took one.

"You'll see," Shepard said. "I just ask that none of you shoot me full of arrows when I turn them on." He slid back down, turned and helped Mithra down. The elf gave Shepard a suspicious look as Rhys slid down on his own. Shepard just gave a shrug before he entered the ruins.

* * *

Garrus once asked Shepard how he knew where he was going while they were under fire. Shepard had replied in a deadpan tone that a map really helped. To be honest Shepard wasn't sure how he was able to get anywhere when his adrenaline was running high and gunfire was everywhere. The corridors of the place made Shepard wonder about the Protheans who had come and if this place had been part of a city of theirs before they came. It was also strangely familiar to the commander as he instinctively had an idea of where the control room was.

The commander was thankful that Leliana and the two Dalish elves had come with him, seeing as the idea of going through another moment with a Prothean beacon without someone to watch his back was daunting. Still Shepard kind of wished that his companions had a pistol or an assault rifle on them and not a knife.

And then they stepped into the first opened area of the place. Eerily illuminated by some vegetation of sorts, they stopped at the sight of Prothean sculptures and architecture.

It was Ilos all over again.

Shepard closed his eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again. No, it wasn't Ilos, but the atmosphere was like Ilos. He started forward again, knife at the ready and feeling like he was treading on the graves of the dead.

"Maker..." Leliana looked ashen as she followed after him. "What is this place?" Rhys muttered something under his breath as both he and the other elf scanned the area nervously.

"A tomb," Shepard replied quietly. "A tomb for a people long gone." He was quiet for a moment and began to talk.

"My people called them the Protheans," he started. "They were a technologically-advanced race from my world, but about fifty-thousand years ago they simply vanished. It was when I was on Ilos that I learned that they were systematically wiped out."

"Genocide?" Mithra asked in a horrified tone. Shepard nodded as he scanned into the darkness.

"Yeah. The race that wiped out the Protheans are known as the Reapers," he continued. "Who they are... well, I suppose the best way to describe them would be a race even more superior than the Prothean and a penchant with playing god on those inferior to them."

"How did these Protheans come here then?" Leliana asked.

"That's what I'm hoping to find out," Shepard answered. "They shouldn't be here. Somehow they must have come here through the same way I did. I hope the beacon will give me the answer." He turned down into another corridor, still wary and feeling like an enemy geth was going to pop up out of nowhere. Another turn down another corridor and Shepard stopped in front of a door.

"What is it, Shepard?" Leliana asked. Shepard knocked on the door as he looked back at the others.

"The control room," he said before sheathing the knife. He knelt down and hit a switch on the base of the door on the right to switch the doors to manual. Getting up Shepard handed his torch to Leliana who sheathed her own blade before taking the torch. Taking out his knife again Shepard pried the doors apart and pushed the door opened.

There was a console before him and Shepard frowned as he took the torch from Leliana before stepping into the room. There was no sound at all, merely the same glowing vegetation growing in the room and decaying walls. Stepping up to the console Shepard, hoping that there was still some power left, pressed a button. Lights flickered on in the room, causing surprised gasps from his companions. Shepard pulled up a screen, surprised to be able to read some of the words and started to browse through. He was able to locate the exact position of the beacon and then, pulling up another screen, he turned on the lights to the rest of the ruins.

"We won't need our torches for now," Shepard said, kneeling down to put out the torch. Leliana nodded and did the same before putting it in her pack. Rhys and Mithra didn't move from their positions by the door, looking up at the ceiling in surprise at the lights before putting away their own torches. Both Shepard and Leliana switched their weapons to their bows and Shepard once again took the lead, this time through lighted corridors.

"Maker," Leliana breathed quietly. "This place, it's so... so strange."

"Is it?" Shepard looked around, comparing it to what he'd seen of Ferelden thus far. "Well, I suppose it's a bit strange, though I think it kind of reminds me of the Tower."

"I wouldn't know," Leliana replied. "Last time I was there, the Tower was in chaos – blood mages, demons and abominations running everywhere."

"Ah. Wynne told me about that," Shepard said. "Well, after this foray into the unknown I'll be heading back to the Tower. If you like, you could come along."

"A tempting offer, but I'm afraid that I will be heading north to Denerim after this," the bard answered. "I have some news for the king." Shepard nodded and for a moment there was silence between them before he spoke again.

"So, this king of yours," Shepard started slowly. "He's a friend?"

"Alistair? Oh yes, I traveled with him during the Blight," Leliana answered. "Sweet, a little silly, likes to hit people with his shield." Shepard gave an amused snort at that as he paused to glance down the corridors. Deeming it eerily safe he continued forward. He threw a curious look over at the two Dalish, wondering why neither of them had said anything. The nervous looks on their faces told the commander that they were a little too freaked out to really talk and suppressed the urge to snicker as he looked forward again.

"Was he also a Grey Warden?" Shepard asked.

"Oh, yes. In a way I'm glad that we all traveled with Aedan. He was..." She trailed off, going quiet for a moment before she cleared her throat and continued. "Aedan was a positive influence on Alistair, and I suppose also to both myself and Zevran. I think he was getting somewhere with Morrigan but... well, we're not sure why she disappeared the night before the battle. Aedan was rather... evasive about it." Shepard nodded as he looked around another corner before continuing on. The corridor suddenly tapered off to looking more like a cave and the two of them stopped, peering into the dimly lit corridor.

"Huh. This is new," Shepard declared, studying the sight before him. The walls seemed to have melded with the cave walls so while it looks like they were entering a cave, the lights were still shining dimly from above. Absently he wondered how that could have happened.

"Are you sure you want to continue further in, Shepard?" Leliana asked. "While I'm sure that two archers and two warriors are enough for anything, this place is..." Shepard glanced back before he looked forward again.

"Yeah, I know," he replied, "but... I have to go."

"Have to?" Shepard didn't say anything as he started down the corridor. He could tell that he was getting close to the beacon now, the call sounding louder with each step he took. The corridor/cave had no other routes, leading the two straight ahead to what Shepard hoped was the beacon.

"I need answers, Leliana," he explained. "I need to know how the Protheans came here and if they have some information on how to get back, though I doubt the latter if all of these things are still here. Besides we're almost to the beacon." A few minutes later the corridor ended in a room with the beacon, still lit and glowing faintly. They all stopped at the entryway and studied the beacon in silence.

"This is the beacon?" Leliana asked, sounding rather breathless. "I've... Maker, I've never seen anything like this before. This is something from your world?" Shepard nodded in response as both Rhys and Mithra murmured something under their breaths with awed expression on their faces before he took a deep breath.

"Leliana?"

"Hm?"

"Don't panic," Shepard said and walked up to the beacon. There was a flash of light, causing Shepard to stagger back before he was pulled into the air. Information streamed into his mind and Shepard saw the attack of the Reapers once more, but this time there was even more information in the beacon. Already Shepard's head felt like it was going to explode as more and more information poured into his mind, relating to the Reaper attack, what the Protheans were trying to do and finally a last message.

It was too much.

Shepard let out a pained scream before everything went black.


	11. Interlude I

Title: Ghosts  
Author: May Chang  
Warnings: general, adventure, AU  
Pairings: M!Shepard + Ashley, M!Cousland x Zevran  
Disclaimers: _Dragon Age: Origins_ and _Mass Effect_ are the property of BioWare.  
Author's Note: Shepard is a Paragon/Earthborn/War Hero/Infiltrator.

* * *

**Ghosts**

* * *

**Interlude I**

There was no way that a body could disappear so completely that even the Shadow Broker could not find it. Miranda paced her office in frustration, trying to figure out where the body had disappeared to. With the angle, trajectory and speed, coupled with any of the other factors, the body should have been there.

Except from what Liara T'Soni reported the mercenaries who had been working for the Shadow Broker found nothing. The wreckage of the _Normandy_ was present, bodies of the crewmen who didn't make it off the ship were there, but the one person that everybody in the universe seemed to want **wasn't**.

Where the hell did Shepard's body go? With the speed as he fell to the planet there would still be a charred body. Even though it had been a few weeks since the _Normandy_ was attacked, the planet had no signs of scavengers so Shepard's body _should_ be there.

Ms. T'Soni was equally frustrated and confused about the whole situation and just had to bring in more bad news: apparently the Shadow Broker had agreed to find Shepard's body for the Collectors. Miranda wasn't sure why the Collectors wanted it but she had the feeling that it spelled trouble for humanity if they had gotten it.

There was a knock on the door and she stopped her pacing as Jacob entered her office.

"Jacob," Miranda greeted curtly.

"Project Ankou has started," he said, crossing his arms before he shook his head. "Miranda, this is a bad idea."

"I agree," Miranda replied, "but it's out of my hands. The Illusive Man wants Shepard."

"And cloning the man is _suppose_ to help?" Jacob scoffed at that. "This is not going to help us or humanity at all. The clone won't have any of Shepard's experiences or memories. Hell, he won't even have Shepard's _personality_ if this is done. You know that I don't like some of what Cerberus has done, but this?"

"I know." Miranda turned away from Jacob to scowl out of the window, crossing her arms. "And this time I completely agree with you Jacob, but right now we can't do a damn thing." She heaved a sigh before she turned back to Jacob.

"Jacob, you still have contacts in the Alliance?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?" he asked as he crossed his arms. Miranda moved to her console and pulled out a datapad, handing it over to Jacob. He looked down and back at Miranda, eyebrows raised. "Wait, are you serious about this?"

"See that it gets to Lt. Alenko and the Councilman, Jacob," Miranda said. "Project Ankou must be stopped." With that she turned away from Jacob, watching him leave her office from the reflection of her window. It took her another moment to decide on the next course of action and Miranda wondered if she'd be able to pull it off.


	12. Chapter 11

Title: Ghosts  
Author: May Chang  
Warnings: general, adventure, AU  
Pairings: M!Shepard + Ashley, M!Cousland x Zevran  
Disclaimers: _Dragon Age: Origins_ and _Mass Effect_ are the property of BioWare.  
Author's Note: Shepard is a Paragon/Earthborn/War Hero/Infiltrator.

* * *

**Ghosts**

* * *

**Part Eleven**

He wasn't sure how much time had passed before Shepard finally decided to return to the world of the living. His head still felt like it was going to explode and Shepard let out a pained groan as he slowly opened his eyes.

"Shepard! Shepard, are you alright?" Leliana asked anxiously.

"...ow," Shepard replied, shutting his eyes close as he raised a hand to his temple. "That's going to leave a mark on my brain." It took him a moment to realize that he was outside, lying on the ground with his head in Leliana's lap. It was already night and a campfire was burning nearby. Blinking he moved to sit up and was hit by a wave of dizziness, feeling the bard gently push him back down.

"You hit the ground hard," Leliana explained. Shepard made a noise as he closed his eyes and tried to make the darkness stop spinning behind his eyelids. "You've been unconscious for a good few hours. It was a good thing Rhys and Mithra came with us or we would have still been in the cave." She ran a hand gently through Shepard's hair and he squeezed his eyes as he tried to get his bearings.

"What happened, Shepard?" she asked. "What did the beacon do to you?"

"Uh..." Shepard opened his eyes and blinked up at Leliana. "The beacon, it uploaded into my brain a lot of information. Some of it I already knew, but it seems like they put in other information like the Prothean culture, religion and, uh, I think some farewells letters of sorts." He took another moment before slowly sitting up, dropping his head into his hands with a groan.

"Frankly I kind of wished that last part didn't happen," he groaned. "It's like a damn punch in the gut." There was the sound of shifting beside Shepard and he peeked through his hands to see Rhys and Mithra taking a seat by them. Mithra held out a skin of water and Shepard gratefully took it, drinking it.

"The place was very old," Mithra said slowly. "How long ago have these Protheans been here?"

"A long time ago," he replied as he handed back the skin. "If my translations and visions are correct – and it's pretty iffy to me, sorry – I think the Protheans arrived at the end of a war. I'm not sure about the history here, but when the Protheans came it looked like some person was being crowned." Shepard rubbed his temple as he looked up at the others before continuing.

"Wait." Shepard looked at Leliana who held up a hand. "A coronation? Where? Here?"

"I have no idea," he replied with a shake of his head. "Probably. I just know that he was a blond hair, blue eye fellow with silver armor on and—"

"Maker's breath, it can't be. The Protheans were there to witness the crowning of King Calenhad?" Leliana exclaimed. Shepard blinked. "Shepard, that was during the Exalted Age, almost four hundred years ago!"

"Uh, okay? Who's he?" The looks the two Dalish leveled at Shepard made him pull back a bit. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking about learning history when I first woke up in Highever."

"King Calenhad, also known as Calenhad the Great or the Silver Knight, was the man who united the barbarian tribes into the nation of Ferelden," Leliana explained. "He in the first Theirin on the throne and it is his line that has remained on the throne. In fact the current king of Ferelden is of Theirin blood."

"When did they die?" Rhys asked. Mithra elbowed the elf and gave him a glare, cowing him slightly. Shepard scratched his head, frowning as he thought.

"I think the last of them died a hundred years later," Shepard said softly. It wasn't a vision, more of a memory to the commander, of walking down the corridors slowly as the lights slowly turned off one by one until he had reached the beacon. The last Prothean sat down next to the beacon as the light overhead turned off, the room barely lit by the beacon and quietly sang a lullaby to himself before darkness claimed him.

It was a peaceful and sad end in comparison to how Shepard was going die.

"Shepard? Are you alright?"

"Huh?" The commander looked up to see a concerned look on Leliana and he realized that tears were spilling from his eyes. "Shit. I'm fine. Really. It's just—uh, damn, sorry." Shepard quickly wiped his eyes and cleared his throat, embarrassed by the whole scene.

"It was strange to them though," Shepard added thoughtfully, "that they lived that long. They were expecting to die within the next thirty, forty years. Huh, I wonder if that means my life is extended as well." He trailed off, thinking about his life expectancy – humans in his universe already lived to 150 on average, was he going to have to tack on another hundred?

"Was it a village?" Mithra asked, changing the subject. "Or a city square? I didn't see any houses for them to stay." Shepard blinked and looked up at the elf, confused by the question before realizing what the Dalish was asking about.

"No, it wasn't a village," Shepard said with a shake of his head. "This was an ark."

"An ark?"

"Well, I think that's the closest definition of what we saw," Shepard amended. "That place was created so that the Protheans there could escape from the Reapers. The technical parts escape me but it sounded like they were trying to phase out so that the Reapers wouldn't see them."

"What does that mean?" Rhys asked. Shepard rubbed his chin as he tried to think of the best explanation.

"They were trying to hide in another dimension," he said. "By shifting the ark into another dimension the Protheans would have practically made themselves invisible to the Reapers. The problem was when they shifted it didn't work the way they hoped. They did get away from the Reapers but instead of putting one foot into the other world, they jumped feet-first _into_ the other world."

"So it's like they were trying to step partway into the Fade, but instead they crossed into the Fade," Leliana summed up slowly. Shepard nodded in agreement at the analogy before he rubbed the back of his neck.

_Well, at least now I know why demons can't see me_, Shepard thought with a tired sigh. _I'm out of sync with this world._ Somehow the thought wasn't very comforting to Shepard at all and he wondered what being out of sync would do to him during his stay in Ferelden.

"It's been a long day," Leliana said. "Perhaps we should get some rest before we head back to the Dalish camp, yes?" Mithra and Rhys both nodded and got up to roll out their sleeping bags. Shepard also stood up, pausing to make sure he wasn't about to keel over before he looked around and found his pack.

Sleep – _real_ sleep and not when he was unconscious – was definitely welcomed.

* * *

Word came from Vigil's Keep that most of the banns had attempted to kill the Warden-Commander. Fergus gave a frustrated sigh before finishing up the letter to be sent to the Warden-Commander. He was glad that Nathaniel had made it back to Vigil's Keep before the whole attack went down to help defend the arlessa, but Fergus felt that the attack should not have happened at all.

What did Rendon Howe do to make these banns so loyal to him? Fergus gave another irritated sigh as he folded the letter and placed it into the envelope before getting up from his desk.

Highever was doing well now, the attack by Howe finally being pushed into the past. The town had finally finished rebuilding, the few survivors from Lothering had finally settled down, and the minor problems in the alienage had been resolved. With the coins coming into the treasury, Fergus was able to sit down with Sir Reilly to finally work out what was needed for their army.

There had been a mass desertion when Howe took the castle and the madman had taken upon himself to hunt down all of the men and put them to death. Unfortunately Howe had been able to kill most of them and when the castle was returned to Fergus, the few surviving men crawled back. The one good thing though was the fact that the survivors were the ones with the most experience and who had served under Fergus's father faithfully. Sir Reilly and Captain Eoin had been two of the first to return, to swear fealty at Fergus's feet and to help rebuild the ranks of both the army and guards.

Fergus wasn't sure what he would have done if Calum, Sir Reilly and Captain Eoin hadn't been there to help rebuild Highever – perhaps having a minor heart attack and heavy drinking would be involved.

"We need more archers," Sir Reilly said, a frown on her face. "We may need to hire someone to teach archery and train at least a good thirty men. We also need a couple of ballistas in case, sire."

"Alright," Fergus said slowly, pen scratching on the paper to make note. "Weaponry?"

"We have crossbows for the men, but we don't have any longbows," the woman replied and shook her head before continuing in a dry tone. "Most of the young ones seemed to prefer using the sword than shooting people." Fergus gave an amused chuckle as he looked up to see a thoughtful expression Sir Reilly's face.

"Perhaps we can get Master Shepard to help with the archery training," she said slowly.

"Hm." Fergus toyed with the idea before nodding. "An excellent idea, Sir Reilly." He scratched down a note to ask Shepard when he returned from the Circle. The man had been rather modest about his marksmanship, but from what Fergus had seen Shepard was extraordinary. Before the commander had left Shepard had started working with the longbow, a weapon that took people years to use well and he seemed to have a good handle of it in a week.

Thinking about Shepard made Fergus realized that he hadn't heard from the man in almost two months. He'd recently received a letter from the First Enchanter that Shepard had joined a couple of templars to help in a situation but after that there was nothing. He hoped that the commander was doing okay before he returned to the matter at hand.

* * *

They made it back to the Dalish camp in a day thanks to Mithra and Rhys. Arriving right as the sun began to set the Keeper had asked them to stay for the night as setting off for Denerim and the Tower now would be stupid. With a glance at the setting sun and exchanging a look for Leliana, the two humans agreed to stay the night though Shepard was a little leery as more of the Dalish elves seemed to want to shoot him full of arrows.

"Why do I get the feeling that Aedan wasn't very popular with the Dalish?" Shepard muttered as they put away their packs and started over to the campfire for dinner.

"Oh no, the Dalish liked Aedan," Leliana replied. "I guess they just don't know what to make of you."

"An innocent human with funny eyes?" She laughed at that as they sat down by the fire. Food was delivered to them – some sort of meat with cooked vegetables and a light soup coupled with water – and people began to talk about the hunt, stories of the past and curious looks thrown at Shepard.

"This is delicious," Shepard said before taking another bite. One of the female elves blushed and gave the commander a shy smile at the compliment and he smiled back.

"I have notice that you seem to enjoy the food since you've arrived," Leliana noted. "I'm surprised you can even eat the food made by Fereldens, half the time I'm not even sure what's in it." There was some laughter from the elves as Shepard chuckled at that.

"Well, it's hard to get fresh food on a ship," Shepard explained, "and this is going to sound terrible but even on shore leave we don't have fresh food like this."

"Why is that?" one of the elves asked. Shepard made a contemplative noise as he thought about it.

"For one, there were too many people where I grew up," he started slowly, "so most of the food was... not what you think it is. Secondly was most of the food on the Citadel were shipped from different worlds so they had to be frozen. We didn't have time to stop planet-side and the few times we did, the welcoming reception was, well, not very nice."

"Worlds? Planet-side?" Lanaya gave the commander a puzzled look and Shepard gave her a sheepish look.

"Ah, yes, uh, would you believe that my people came from the stars?" he said, gesturing to the sky. The looks Lanaya and some of the other elves gave him caused Shepard to give a shrug. "It's the truth – our ships are created to fly through the stars and believe me, the universe is a pretty big place."

"You have met the people of different worlds?" one of the younger elves asked.

"Oh yes, they're all very, very different from us," he replied. "For example, there's one race of people who all look like blue-skinned women and can live to a thousand years."

"Surely they're not all female," Rhys asked. The tone in his voice and the narrowing of his eyes caused Shepard to chuckle in amusement.

"Oh no, they are," Shepard answered with a smile. "I'm not sure on how they procreate, but they're the only race that can have little blue baby girls with anyone in the universe – kind of creepy now that I think about it. There are also the turians, salarians, elcors and many other races but most of those races don't really look human at all."

"What about magic?" one of the younger girls asked curiously.

"We actually don't have magic," Shepard replied. "Well, not magic like yours anyway – there's a lot of scientific explanation that goes way over my head." The commander scratched his chin as he made a thoughtful noise.

"The ones that I think would be closest to having magic with be the biotics," Shepard continued thoughtfully with a slight frown. "The thing is those people were exposed to a substance that gives them their powers, and even then there's no talking with spirits and throwing of fireballs. Although now that I think about it there is some throwing of people involved with their powers."

"Force mages then," Lanaya said. Shepard made a curious noise as he took another bite of dinner. "Those types of mages have the ability to throw people around or to slow them down by making them heavy."

"That sounds about right," Shepard replied slowly.

"Do they have to go to the Circle? Who teaches them their powers?" another girl asked.

"What if they're possessed by demons?" a young hunter piped up.

"There's a branch within our military that is specifically geared to training biotics with their powers," Shepard explained. "Most of them are still kids when they're sent over so in a way it's like the Circle but with a more military application to their powers. As for demons we don't really have that problem, unless you count the demons of alcohol, drugs and gambling."

_And probably sex, but I think that was just Kaidan's problem_, he thought to himself. The rumors about Kaidan's past had provided some amusement to the commander much to the lieutenant's embarrassment.

"They're all still very mortal in the end," Shepard continued with a shrug. "A well placed shot in the head will take them out just as easy as anybody else. The only real problem I had with the biotics I worked with is that they tend to eat like they haven't had a good meal in days."

"That sounds like the two Wardens," an elderly Dalish commented and Leliana laughed at that.

"I thought for sure Aedan and Alistair were going to eat all of your food," she said. "I still remember Zevran and I having to pull those two away from the campfire before they started to eat the soup pot." Lanaya and the other elves also laughed at that as Shepard chuckled.

"Do you have any stories from your world?" one of the children asked. It took Shepard moment to realize that the little ones had somehow managed to congregate around him without him realizing. He rubbed the back of his neck with a laugh before answering.

"I have some stories, what kind would you like to hear?"

* * *

Lanaya had set up an aravel for the two to stay in for the night and Shepard found the wagon to be rather comfy. It sort of reminded him of the romanticized 19th-century Earth that some of the younger girls had read back in school with a dreamy sigh. While the wagon and the notion of living out in the prairies sounded cool to a child of eight to twelve years, Shepard can now personally say that roughing it in the wilds is tough. Tents, water-purification tablets, a _lighter_ – they all seemed like a luxury now that Shepard was here in Ferelden.

"You know, Shepard? I think with some training you'd be an excellent bard," Leliana mused as they started to get ready to go to sleep. Shepard was sitting on his bedroll, facing away from Leliana to allow her some privacy as she changed.

"A bard? Oh, no, no, no, no, no" Shepard said, shaking his head and waving his hands. "Bards _sing_, I don't unless you want me to render people deaf." Leliana laughed at that before going quiet as Shepard pulled off his shirt. He paused to look over at her, seeing her eyes looking over his scars.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Shepard said, watching as Leliana looked back up at him. He gave a shrug as he raised an arm and looked down at the scar tissues. "Well, it doesn't hurt anymore." Dropping his arm, Shepard tossed the shirt into his pack before sitting down on his bedding, carefully not looking at Leliana as she turned away to undress for the night. Idly Shepard wondered if he should put on a clean shirt for modesty before deciding against it.

"You can look now," Leliana said. Shepard glanced over his shoulder to see Leliana with a light shirt on before turning to get off his blanket so that he get under them. Leliana also crawled under her own blankets. "So you will be heading back to the Tower tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I should let Wynne know that I'm still alive," Shepard replied as he settled down. "And then I should head back to Highever since I know what happened."

"Did you find out how to go back home?" Leliana asked, turning to face him. Shepard stared at the ceiling of the aravel, hands folding under his head.

"Yeah, about that," Shepard said quietly, "I can't go home."

"What?" The bard rose slightly as Shepard tilted his head to look at her.

"The Protheans never expected to cross completely over," Shepard explained. "So when it happened, they couldn't reverse the wormhole, portal thing because the machine they used fried. They tried to fix it, but they didn't have the right materials to fix the machine.

"Do you know of any stories of ghosts in the forests?" Shepard asked, turning to look at Leliana. "When they figured out they couldn't go home, the Protheans decided to see what was going on in this world. I've got accounts about giants with horns, a land of mages and some of the _ugliest_ monsters I have ever seen. Some of them weren't careful enough and were seen in forests, and trust me, they do sort of look like blue-glowing ghosts."

"Ghosts in the forest." Leliana bit her lower lip as she thought about it. "No, no, I do not believe I have heard of any. Perhaps Lanaya may know."

"Hm." Shepard shifted his gaze back to the ceiling. "Well, better get some sleep. Tomorrow will be here soon."

* * *

So out of curiosity are people okay with slash or no? My Shepard's usually bi to start with so I can go either way when I go into the romantic section. I will be delving into _Dragon Age 2_ as well so yes, you will be seeing Hawke and company later (I just have to decide on Hawke's gender and who the LI is going to be.)


	13. Chapter 12

Title: Ghosts  
Author: May Chang  
Warnings: general, adventure, AU  
Pairings: M!Shepard + Ashley, M!Cousland x Zevran  
Disclaimers: _Dragon Age: Origins_ and _Mass Effect_ are the property of BioWare.  
Author's Note: Shepard is a Paragon/Earthborn/War Hero/Infiltrator.

* * *

**Part Twelve**

Someone was cuddled against Shepard's back when he groggily woke up. His surrounding was unfamiliar and the commander frowned as he tried to get his bearings. He wondered what hostel he was in before Shepard remembered that he had stayed in an aravel last night. Sleepily Shepard looked over his shoulder to see Leliana still asleep, curled against his back. Dropping his head back down on his pillow, Shepard blinked at the wall of the aravel before he lifted his blanket and looked down.

_Okay, I know it's been a while, but really?_ Shepard thought in exasperation. It had been almost a year since Shepard had been with anyone – and sex hadn't been on the agenda when he had been chasing Saren – but now that a warm body was pressed against him...

Shepard suppressed the urge to awkwardly clear his throat and gingerly scooted away from the bard and got out of bed. Making sure that Leliana was still asleep Shepard pulled a shirt from his pack and rubbed his face. Deciding against shaving for now, Shepard pulled out his knife from his pack and quietly exited the aravel. Glancing around the camp Shepard could see some of the Dalish already up and about. Some of the younger ones were doing archery practice while a few of the women were starting what looked like breakfast to the commander. Lanaya was also up with a basket on her back, heading into the forest with another young girl who had her own basket and two warriors.

Moving towards the river at the outskirt of the camp, Shepard took the time to relieve himself before settling down by the banks of the river. He splashed some water on his face, rinsed out his mouth before Shepard sat back to look at his surroundings, considering about what he was going to be doing today.

Shepard didn't get far in his thoughts when the sound of footsteps alerted him that he wasn't alone. He looked up to see one of the women arriving with a couple of buckets. The Dalish gave him a startled look and Shepard gave her a smile in greeting before he got up.

"Need help?" he asked, dusting off his pants. The elf smiled shyly at Shepard and handed him one of the buckets. They both filled the buckets and Shepard offered to carry the Dalish's bucket to which she refused before they made their way back to the camp.

"You are up early, Shepard," the Dalish said.

"It's habit," Shepard replied with a smile. "You are up early as well."

"It's habit," she answered with a giggle. Shepard chuckled as the two entered the camp, stopping to drop off the bucket of water at the fire. The elf smiled at him and Shepard gave her a nod before he trotted off back to the aravel. The sound of giggling floated through the air and he glanced over his shoulder at the women, noting how they all giggled as they looked over at him and whispered at each other.

"Good morning," Leliana said as she stepped out of the aravel. She look around him, spying the elven girls by the fire, giggling as they cast looks at him. Looking back at him, Leliana smiled at Shepard. "Ooh. I see you have some admirers. How cute."

"Yes, well," Shepard said with a shrug. Leliana just giggled at that and he decided to change the subject before Leliana said anything more. "So where is Denerim?"

"Denerim is to the north from here," Leliana replied after a moment. "It is the capital of Ferelden and it's bigger than Highever but it doesn't compare to Val Royeaux. I'm sure you'll get a chance to see Denerim for yourself during your stay here."

"Hopefully," Shepard said with a grin. They both looked over when one of the young Dalish children ran up to them to announce that breakfast was ready. Shepard nodded and with a quick glance over at Leliana, they followed the child down to the fire.

"So how do I get to the Tower from here?" Shepard asked as he and Leliana took a seat. Two girls came by with two plates for them, meat and fruit piled on it. "Wow this looks delicious. Thank you." The girl who had given him the plate turned beat red and, with a nod, scampered away, giggling with her friend as they threw looks over their shoulders at Shepard. The look Leliana was giving him was enough for Shepard to shoot her a dirty look.

"When we get to the road, you just need to follow the road west," Leliana said, popping a piece of fruit into her smiling mouth. "You should be able to make it to the village of Redcliffe in four, five days, and then from there you'll follow it up north to Lake Calenhad." She paused before narrowing her eyes at Shepard.

"You might want to keep your head down in Redcliffe," she added.

"Aedan again?" he asked with a sigh. Leliana giggled and took another bite of food, eyes twinkling. Footsteps approached the camp and Shepard turned to see a guard approaching with a human following after. The man – no, teenager – glanced over to give a nod of greeting to Leliana and a curious look at Shepard. Lanaya placed her food to her side and stood up, walking over to the kid.

"You are Keeper Lanaya?" the teenager asked, licking his lips nervously. "I have a message from His Highness King Alistair." He pulled out a scroll out of his bag and held it out to the Keeper nervously. Shepard idly wondered if the kid thought that Lanaya was going to set him on fire and nearly laughed at the thought. Lifting an eyebrow Lanaya broke the seal and began to read through the message. Her other brow rose up as she read then turned to look at Leliana.

"Leliana," she called out. Leliana placed her food aside and got up as two other elderly Dalish made their way over to the Keeper. The four of them moved to the side and quietly spoke as the messenger glanced over at the food. He shuffled his feet, glancing at the guard nervously then looked down at his feet.

"You had breakfast yet?" Shepard called out. The kid jerked his head up at Shepard, eyes wide and his cheeks flushing when his stomach gave a growl in reply. The guard next to the messenger gave the kid an amused look. "Have a seat, kid." The messenger looked at the guard as though for permission and the guard inclined his head slightly. He nervously sat down next to Shepard and mumbled a shy thank you when one of the Dalish women handed him some food.

"Um," the kid started as he began to tuck into his breakfast, "are you the Hero, sir?"

"...What?" Shepard replied. "Oh. Oh no, no, I'm, uh. I just look like the Hero."

"Really? Because there've been rumors in Denerim and Redcliffe that, um, that the Hero was dropped out of the Fade and all," the teen said, taking a mouthful of meat. Shepard could see the Dalish giving the boy an interested look then gave a shrug.

"Well, I don't know about being dropped out of the Fade—"

"And you brought with you a spirit of good luck. Some even say that you are a spirit of good luck," the kid continued. "HIghever's really turned around since Arl Howe's attack and a lot of people are moving there because it's safer there than Denerim, Gwaren and Redcliffe. And there's talk about Vigil's Keep, how it's getting a lot of trade and their soldiers' weapons and armors are all top-notch thanks to a windfall of gold the Warden-Commander received and—"

"I was only in Vigil's Keep for three days," Shepard protested. "And I am not a spirit of good luck."

"People," Lanaya called out as she, Leliana and the two men walked back to the campfire. "King Alistair would like to meet us near Ostagar – it would seem that he wants to show us the land that would be our new home." All eyes promptly shifted onto Shepard, the messenger giving him an "I-told-you-so" look.

"...that's a coincidence," Shepard said, ears starting to burn. "I am not a spirit of good luck!"

* * *

A messenger arrived with a scroll from King Alistair that morning for Fergus. Puzzled by what the king could want from him, Fergus accepted the message and broke the seal. As he began to read Fergus couldn't help but start to frown.

Anora had many supporters during her reign with Cailan before the Blight but during the events of the Blight, Loghain's actions had turned most of her supporters away. When Alistair had taken the throne thanks to Aedan, his first move as king was to have the former queen imprisoned in one of the wings of the castle so that she couldn't interfere. Personally Fergus was glad that Alistair had spared Anora's life as while the man disliked her, the king wouldn't have killed a woman just for being related to a traitor.

Nathaniel's face popped into Fergus' mind and he nodded absently to himself.

The missive was a bit of a surprise though to Fergus. He had assumed that Anora would be locked away in Denerim for the rest of her life, but it would seem that there had been some attempts by someone to assassinate the woman. Alistair had suspected Arl Eamon, something he did not like to think about but had to as the arl held no love for Anora, so he was sending Anora to Highever for protection.

"Andraste's flaming pyre," Fergus breathed, rubbing his forehead. Highever was working as well as before Rendon's Howe's attack, perhaps even more prosperous than before. The only major change that Fergus noticed was that the alienage's population seemed to have spiked over the months – possibly fear after what was done to the elves in Denerim.

_Loghain you stupid bastard._

Fergus reached out and picked up a quill to write his reply to the king. Taking care of the former queen would be no problem to him, and he hadn't talked to her in a long time. To be honest Fergus rather admired the woman, knowing that Anora had been the real leader on the throne and some of the better changes in the law had been through her. Perhaps some time away from Denerim would be a good change for Anora.

Rolling up the parchment and sealing it with his seal, Fergus handed the scroll back to the message along with some silvers. The messenger saluted and left the study and Fergus gave a sigh and called for Calum.

"My Lord?" Calum said with a slight bow as he entered the study.

"Please prepare one of the guest rooms," Fergus said. "Lady Anora will be arriving to stay at Highever for a while." Calum blinked, the only gesture of surprise from the man before he nodded and left the room. Fergus tapped a finger on his desk and, after a moment, remembered that Alistair was sending a friend to keep an eye on Anora on her trip to Highever. He wondered who the person was before pushing it out of his head – Fergus still had a land to run.

* * *

The messenger left first with Lanaya's acknowledgement to meet the king near Ostagar. After that the Dalish began to pack, getting ready to move. Both Leliana and Shepard also got ready, Leliana teasing Shepard all the way about the girls and being a spirit of good luck.

"I don't even know where that came from," Shepard groused. "They're all coincidences." He slung his pack over his shoulder then donned the cloak, turning to look at the bard.

"Coincidence or not, people are going to keep talking," Leliana said with a smile.

"Yeah, well, if the Circle suddenly gets a windfall of gold, I'll eat by boot." Leliana giggled as they exited the aravel and made their way to Lanaya. The Keeper was also packing her belongings but she looked up when they arrived. She stood up, brushing the dirt off her robes and gave them a nod.

"You will be heading out soon?" Lanaya asked.

"Yes," Leliana replied. "Thank you so much for allowing us to stay, Lanaya."

"Thank you," Shepard added with a grin. Lanaya smiled then turned to one of the large trunks, opening it and taking out an amulet.

"Here," she said, handing it to Shepard. Shepard automatically took the object, seeing that Lanaya had given him a strange-looking necklace. "It's called a Spirit Cord. I hope it serves you well, Shepard."

"Uh, sure," Shepard answered. "What did I do?"

"You brought good luck to the Dalish," Lanaya said with an impish smile and, with a nod to the commander and Leliana, went back inside her aravel. Leliana gave Shepard a look, arching her eyebrow and Shepard scowled.

"I am not a spirit of good luck!" Shepard growled.

"Of course you're not," Leliana said lightly.

* * *

They parted way at the first crossroad after leaving the Brecilian Forest, Leliana heading north and Shepard to the west. Lanaya had provided them some supplies for their travels, and after Leliana gave him a hug, they went on their way. There weren't many travelers on the road and by the second day Shepard figured that it had to do with the burnt remains of a village. Something was off about the area and, after taking some time to explore the place, Shepard figured it had to do with the fact that nothing was growing. The village had to be have been torched a few years ago yet the commander had yet to find anything green growing in the ruins.

"What are you doing here?" Shepard jerked, turning to the voice. A heavily-pregnant woman was standing behind him, a staff in hand and her face hooded. He considered pulling off his own hood but decided against it – the good luck spirit rumor would require Shepard to rub her tummy for a good birth or something.

"Just exploring," Shepard called out, looking around. "This place is off, you know. Something should have started growing." The woman seemed to study him.

"This is Lothering," she replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "Things won't be growing here for years or until someone burn away the darkspawn taint."

"Ah." Shepard had no idea where Lothering was or what it had to do with darkspawn taint. He looked away from the woman, looked around the ruined village and then nodded. "That's too bad." The woman snorted and began to walk through the village, heading south.

"Will you be alright?" Shepard called out. The woman stopped and turned to look at Shepard.

"I can take care of myself, if that's what you're asking," she replied waspishly. Shepard shifted his hood back slightly to get a better look at her and frowned, unsure how a staff would make a difference. The woman stilled then spoke again, voice suddenly suspicious. "I know that face."

_Damn it_, Shepard thought with a mental grimace. The woman walked up to him, pulling back her hood to expose a beautiful face and golden eyes, and she studied his face.

"So you're the rumored Hero dropped out from the Fade," she said, amusement coloring her voice. "You're nowhere as large as he was."

"Wait, you knew him?" Shepard asked in surprise.

"You have the same air as him," she said. "At least you don't make juvenile jokes with every breath. I suppose you are on your way to Highever. If so, you are going to wrong way."

"Well, I'll eventually head back to Highever, but for now I have an appointment at the Circle," Shepard replied.

"I see." Shepard had the oddest feeling that the woman was sizing him up for something. She suddenly smiled and Shepard was instantly on guard. "Perhaps a trade can be arranged. You seem the type to honor agreements."

"Okay?" Shepard answered cautiously.

"I have, in my possession, a set of armor that would be more suited for you," she announced, dropping her bag and pulling one of the packs off of it. "It has been enchanted by some very powerful runes." Shepard blinked in surprise as he took the pack and looked inside. The black armor was resonating with some sort of power and Shepard had a strange feeling that he needed this armor.

"Arlght, what can I do for you," he replied, refastening the pack and tying it to his own.

"In three months, come to Ostagar," the woman said as she slung her pack over her shoulder. "I have a promise to fulfill and you will be delivering it for me." She raised a hand and Shepard's eyes followed down to watch her pat her stomach, a faint smile on her face.

"You may call me Morrigan," the woman said, looking up at the commander. "What shall I call you?"

"Shepard," he replied. "Are you sure you don't—"

"I will be fine, Shepard" she replied. "And I will see you again." Shepard watched as the woman turned and walked away when a sudden gust of wind blew into his face. When he opened his eyes Morrigan was gone. He took a couple of steps forward, seeing that Morrigan's footprints had mysteriously disappeared. Looking around the ruins Shepard rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

* * *

The Warden's Rest looked rather cozy to Shepard when he finally arrived in Redcliffe Village a couple days after Lothering. Dropping off his pack in his room, Shepard kept the hood on when he went back down for a meal. He noticed many of the patrons eyeing him curiously when he sat down and ordered some food, but thankfully no one came by to ask why he was still wearing his cloak. It had been a good thing that no one had paid him much attention as a minstrel had begun to sing about the deeds of the Hero of Ferelden that night.

Shepard was sure that the man was embellishing Aedan's deeds in the song – as if the man could have taken on five high dragons the size of the chantry with just a sword, a shield and a dog. Still people adored the dead warrior and Shepard couldn't help but wonder about the man as he listened. Perhaps when Leliana came by Highever again he would ask her about Aedan.

When Shepard retired to his room for the night he pulled out the dark armor that Morrigan had given him. It was pretty decent light armor, definitely lighter than the splintmail he now wore. It took a moment for Shepard notice the red stripe lined down the right arm of the armor.

_Huh. Well, will you look at that_, Shepard thought in surprise. The pregnant woman had practically given him the Ferelden version of his N7 armor. Tracing a hand over the red stripe Shepard could feel something coming from it and wondered if it had anything to do with the enchantment. After a while Shepard put away the dark armor, undressed and turned in for the night. If Leliana was right he should be able to make it to Lake Calenhad by nightfall tomorrow.

* * *

Fergus was in the main hall with two guardsmen when Anora arrived in to the castle that night. The woman looked around the hall, tightening her shawl around her before looking at Fergus with a cool expression.

"Teryn Cousland," she greeted with a formal bow. Fergus mentally grimaced at how cool Anora was acting towards him. He hadn't been there during the Landsmeet so of course Anora would be cold to Fergus seeing as he was the elder brother of the man who pushed her off the throne for her reluctant half-brother-in-law.

"I have readied a room for you," Fergus said then flicked his eyes over to the guards. "I understand that His Majesty had sent a friend of his to keep an eye on you?"

"That he did," the Orlesian maid muttered, casting a dark look at a dark-hooded figure behind them. Fergus could see the person flash a smile at him and gave him a bow.

"Mm, I see." Alistair must not trust Anora at all if he would send a good friend to keep an eye on her and her maid. "Then please follow me, my lady. Allow me to show you to your rooms."

"How nice of you," Anora said, her tone still chilly. Alistair's soldiers all gave the teyrn a bow and left for the barracks – they would be heading back to Denerim the next morning. The two guardsmen followed after the deposed queen and her maid as Fergus led the way out of the main hall.

"Teryn Cousland, yes?" the guard called out. Fergus glanced back at the man, surprised to hear an Antivan accent. It also sent a pang into Fergus's heart as he thought about Oriana and he clenched his fist to keep his expression neutral. "Perhaps after the lady has been settled, we may talk."

"Of course," Fergus replied smoothly. He caught the look from Anora, her eyes softening just a bit before she looked away. "We can talk in my study." The Antivan gave a nod and Fergus opened the door to Anora's quarters. Two guards took their stations by the doors and after checking that Anora and her maid were set, Fergus left the room with the Antivan at his back.

"Mm, you really shouldn't turn your back on an Antivan," the man said in amusement. "You never know if they're a Crow or not."

"True," Fergus agreed with a chuckle. "But then again I suppose I've gotten use to being around Antivan women."

"Ah, yes," the man replied with a nod. "They are all smiles in the front and holding a knife in the back." The Antivan pulled back the hood to reveal tanned skin with a tattoo on his left cheek, blond long hair and pointy ears. Fergus opened the door to his study and walked in, heading for the cabinet to the side to take out a bottle of Antivan brandy.

"Might I ask who you are?" Fergus started as he took out two tumblers and poured the brandy.

"Zevran Arainai, at your service," the elf said with an impish smile. "Formerly of the Antivan Crows and currently playing guard for Lady Anora. Ah, wonderful, Antivan brandy, yes? A little bit of home."

"Oriana's favorite," Fergus said as he watched the assassin take a sip of the brandy. "So you are my brother's lover." The impish smile disappeared from Zevran's face and he nodded as he turned to study the bookshelf. In that moment Fergus felt that Zevran was hurting just as much as he was and the teyrn sat down in one of the two chairs before his desk. Zevran turned to look at Fergus who motioned for him to take the other seat and, after a moment of hesitation, sat down.

"Let's talk," Fergus said with a smile. "I want to hear about you and my little brother."

* * *

Urgh, I was attempting to get Shepard to the Tower and back to Highever as soon as possible but then Anora smacked the back of my head with a plot bunny and I got derailed. Damn it Anora!

I think I need some crit on the Morrigan part as I still don't think she sounds like Morrigan at all. Is she not bitchy enough or something? :-\


	14. Chapter 13

Title: Ghosts  
Author: May Chang  
Warnings: general, adventure, AU  
Pairings: M!Shepard + Ashley, M!Cousland x Zevran  
Disclaimers: _Dragon Age: Origins_ and _Mass Effect_ are the property of BioWare.  
Author's Note: Shepard is a Paragon/Earthborn/War Hero/Infiltrator.

* * *

**Part Thirteen**

* * *

The sun was just setting when Shepard arrived at Lake Calenhad the next day. Wynne and a couple of young mages were there to greet him when the boatman rowed Shepard to the Tower and he gave the First Enchanter a tired grin. Greagoir wasn't there, but another young templar was there to see Shepard's arrival. He gave the commander a nod in greetings and with a nod to Wynne who returned it the templar left.

"Hello Wynne," Shepard greeted. "It's been awhile."

"Hello Shepard," Wynne said with a smile. "That it has. You look terrible, you should get cleaned up." Shepard looked down and gave a sheepish laugh at the sight of mud covering him.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," he replied. "Perhaps we could talk over dinner?"

"Of course." He gave Wynne a warm smile as she motioned for one of the young mages and asked him to lead Shepard to one of the guest rooms. With a nod the First Enchanter went back to her young changes and Shepard followed the apprentice up the stairs. The young mage fiddled with the sleeve of his robes, casting quick glances at Shepard as they walked up the stairs.

"Yes?" Shepard asked patiently. The mage started, cheeks flushing as his eyes darted down to the ground.

"I-I was wondering how you, um, how you like it here so far," the apprentice asked. "Uh, here as in, uh, Ferelden, n-not the Tower." Shepard scratched his cheek as he thought about the answer.

"Well, it's a big change for me, that's for sure," Shepard replied honestly. "But so far I like it. You'll probably think this is funny but I really enjoy the air here."

"The air?" The apprentice gave Shepard a bemused look.

"Oh yeah, it's just cleaner than from where I'm from and plus I rather enjoy the smell of pies baking," Shepard said with a grin. The apprentice giggled at that, his cheeks pinking up before going silent.

"So... so you're not afraid of mages?" Shepard blinked at that question, giving the apprentice a sharp look. He was looking at the ground, hands fidgeting with the sleeves of the robes.

"Should I be?" Shepard asked. "I'll admit, I've never seen people with the power to set people on fire or freeze them, but you are all still human." He paused for a moment then spoke again.

"Although with the thing with the blood mage, yeah, I can see people being afraid," Shepard amended. "But people like Anders and Lachlan make up for the crazies." The teenager finally looked up at Shepard, eyes wide and Shepard shrugged in response. They stopped in front of the guest quarters and the apprentice fidgeted a little more before giving Shepard a shy farewell then scurried off somewhere. Shepard rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly unsure as to why the apprentice had asked the question then he walked into the room, shut the door and dropped his pack onto the ground.

With a sigh of relief Shepard pulled off his armor, wrinkling his nose at the state and smell of his undershirt. Dumping the armor on the floor for now Shepard walked over to the basin, splashing the water on his face before leaning against the counter to look into the mirror. His hair had grown quite a bit, enough for Shepard to feel like he was trying the pass for one of Earth's more good-looking actors, especially with the stubble. He thought about shaving before going down to meet Wynne then looked down at his shirt, and decided he'd rather have a bath first before meeting the First Enchanter.

* * *

"So did you find your answer, Shepard?" Wynne asked over dinner. The First Enchanter had set up a private dinner with only a couple of Templars by the door. Shepard could feel his mouth watering at the sight of roasted chicken on a bed of greens and fresh bread. The First Enchanter had an amused expression on her face and Shepard had a feeling she could tell he was hungry.

"Yeah, I think so," Shepard replied slowly as they began to eat. He then began to tell Wynne of what happened and what he managed to find out from the beacon between bites. When Shepard finished with his tale, his plate was scraped clean. Wynne made a thoughtful noise, nibbling on a piece of bread.

"If what you say is true, that the Protheans used a device to enter our world," Wynne said slowly, "then how does it explain you? You did not have this device when you arrived."

"I... Huh," Shepard said. "I didn't think about that." He was quiet for a moment, taking a sip of ale before a thought crossed his mind.

"The portal."

"Portal?" Wynne arched an eyebrow. "Ah, the one the blood mage had summoned."

"Right, that portal," Shepard said, sitting up and leaning forward in his seat. "It was... It was calling me."

"Calling you?" Wynne frowned, looking concerned.

"Yeah, like-like it wanted me to go through it." Shepard rubbed his chin with a knuckle as he gave his plate a thoughtful frown. "Course my gut told me that was a bad idea, but I think... I think I went through a portal like that before." Wynne was quiet for a moment and Shepard had a feeling that she was mulling over that idea.

"Perhaps," she said slowly. "Though I must admit, I have not heard of such of thing. Then again I have also not heard of anyone being invisible to the demons and spirits."

_I'm just special that way_, Shepard thought mirthlessly as he took a drink of ale. He looked up to see two servants enter the room, one to collect their dishes and the bread basket, and the other to serve them dessert, a warm pastry drizzled with some golden syrup and hot tea.

"Well, for now, I'm here to stay," Shepard said aloud. He gave Wynne a smile. "And I have to admit, I rather enjoy my stay so far here in Ferelden." Wynne gave a soft laugh as they started on their dessert. Shepard tried the golden syrup and was surprise at the flowery sweetness.

_Better than mint chocolate chip ice cream_, he thought, digging in with gusto.

"You will be returning to Highever now, yes?" Wynne asked.

"Yes," Shepard replied, looking up. "Kind of want to let Fergus know that I'm still alive after, uh... how long now? Three months?" He took the last bite of the pastry, restraining the urge to use his fingers to wipe up the syrup and lick it away. Even in the high-class party where he first met Captain Anderson there hadn't been anything like this being served.

"Almost three months," Wynne agreed. "I have some business in Amaranthine so perhaps we can travel together to Highever. My, you really enjoyed dessert." Shepard gave the First Enchanter a sheepish look.

"Uh, yeah, this syrup thing is amazing," Shepard said. Wynne blinked.

"Syrup? That's just honey, Shepard." Shepard gave Wynne a puzzled look.

"What's honey?"

* * *

Anora and her maid had settled into the castle easily though the former queen was still a bit unsettled with Zevran lurking about in the background. The Orlesian maid also did not like the fact that Zevran was guarding them, but to be perfectly honest Fergus felt that the assassin was perfect for the job.

And there was the fact that Fergus liked Zevran. Having an Antivan in the castle made the teyrn feel a little more comfortable strangely enough – Fergus chalked it up to the accent.

The former queen spent most of the time by herself, reading the books in the library or wandering the garden in the castle. The first time she went to the market, apparently most of the people stopped and stared at her, whispering to each other as they tried to figure out why Anora was in Highever. After that Anora chose to not go down to the village unless it was absolutely necessary or Fergus was there.

Fergus had also started to spend some time with Anora when he wasn't busy doing paperwork or working on his swordplay. He would bring her news of what was going on in Highever, what was happening with the banns and, with some reluctance, what the king was doing. Alistair had taken a while to get use to the crown, but it would seem that he had his father's charm and political ability. Already there were some changes happening in Denerim, Amaranthine and the area near Ostagar.

On the third day since Anora's arrival Shepard finally returned to the castle. The teyrn made his way to the main hall and froze at the sight of the commander, his heart nearly stopping in shock. Shepard was talking to Calum with a smile on his face and, taking in the sight of Shepard in splintmail, messy short hair and what looked like a smudge of dirt on his face, Fergus saw Aedan.

It was as though his little brother had just come back in from combat practice.

"Fergus!" The teryn started as Shepard called out a greeting. A second person – Fergus belatedly realized it was the First Enchanter – looked up and gave Fergus a warm smile, a smile that made him think of his mother. Mustering up a smile of his own, Fergus approached Shepard, Wynne and Calum.

"Shepard! It's good to see you," Fergus greeted then turned to Wynne. "First Enchanter, it is a pleasure."

"Your Grace," Wynne said warmly, bowing her head slightly in greeting. "I'm afraid I cannot stay too long, I have a boat to catch in Amaranthine."

"Surely you have time for lunch."

"I wish, but..." She gestured to the Templar behind her, rolling her eyes and Fergus suppressed the urge to chuckle. "Another time, Your Grace."

"First Enchanter." Wynne gave both him and Shepard a warm smile and then left the halls, the Templar following after her. The teyrn then turned to Shepard who gave Fergus a sheepish grin when his stomach growled.

"So maybe I should drop off my stuff in my room first and then we can eat?" the commander asked.

"Of course." Shepard gave Fergus a nod and walked off, and Fergus took the time to return to his study, Calum following after him. The seneschal quickly ran down a list of what Fergus had to look forward to after lunch and he gave an irritated sigh as he looked over a few missives, signing at most two and outright rejecting the others. A servant arrived after Fergus rejected the fifth pamphlet – something calling for limiting the movements of elves – announcing that lunch is served.

With a nod and dismissing the servant, Fergus opened a draw and pulled out Shepard's gauntlet. To be honest perhaps gauntlet wasn't exactly the right word as the teyrn studied it. It was too flimsy to stand up to any force so perhaps bracer would be a better description. Fergus tucked the glove into his pouch, got up from his seat and left his office, meeting Shepard outside of the dining hall, looking refreshed and in a clean change of clothes. Lunch was simple – warm bread, yellow cheese and a thick beef stew – and the conversation was plenty as Shepard related to Fergus his adventures.

"I see you've been busy," Fergus said in amusement, taking a drink of ale.

"I like to be busy," Shepard said with a grin. "And the situation isn't so different from what I've experienced in my world. Well, except for the shades and fire demons who explode upon death. That's new and not so new now that I think of it, I do cause a lot of explosions back home." Fergus chuckled at that then leaned forward in his seat.

"What would you say to being part of my army?" Fergus started. "Ser Reilly could really use some help in inspiring our men to use the bow over the sword. In fact I'd like it if you'd help train them." Shepard stared at Fergus with a surprised expression.

"Really?" Shepard asked. "You want me to—Really?"

"Really," Fergus said, feeling rather amused. "You're probably one of the best marksman that I know of, and I have a feeling you would not enjoy doing nothing during your stay here."'

"Yes," Shepard immediately said. "I mean, I'll do it. Definitely." Fergus smiled then pulled out the odd-looking bracer from his purse, handing it to Shepard. Shepard's eyes widened and took it from his hand.

"Where did you find this?" Shepard asked quietly as he looked over the bracer.

"A traveling merchant," Fergus replied in irritation. Shepard looked up and Fergus waved at him. "He probably thought you were dead and pulled it off your arm. Apparently he was selling it as some sort of gauntlet." Shepard shrugged as he slipped the bracer onto his left wrist and stared at it.

"Andraste's flaming sword!" Fergus swore, jerking up from his seat in shock as Shepard's left arm was suddenly engulfed in yellow-orange lights. The commander said nothing, bringing up strange lights and waving his hand around before the lights all disappeared.

"I'm glad it still works," he said with a relieved sigh and then looked at Fergus. "Oh, uh, this is an omni-tool. It's, um, a tool. From my world. It's harmless. Mostly."

"Mostly?"

"Well, it's only harmful to certain non-organics so we'll be all fine," Shepard said with a grin. "If anything it's just going to give me a better advantage against the other guy." He paused, rubbing the back of his neck with a thoughtful expression.

"Hm... showing you how it's to my advantage might have the Templars up here to smite me though." Fergus raised an eyebrow but Shepard said nothing more after that. "So. When do I start?"

"Slow down, Shepard," Fergus replied with a chuckle. "First let's discuss what's to be expected."

* * *

To say Shepard was excited would be a bit of an understatement. He had trained a few people before, but it had mostly been how to avoid detection from humans, aliens, robots and cameras. After the Blitz Shepard didn't have the time to train people, his unknown status shooting up to celebrity overnight. He was still knowned in his world in a bizarre sort of way but at least this time Shepard was teaching how to shoot well instead of how to hide well.

Shepard took a deep breath as he paused to look out the window at the darkening skies. It had been spring when Shepard had arrived to Ferelden and now the leaves have already changed, starting to fall. A city brat, Shepard had only seen this on the Extranet and on datapads. He started against down the hall, looking forward to see a noblewoman walking slowly down the hall, reading her book. She looked up just as Shepard started to walk past and froze.

"Aedan Cousland?" she asked. The tone of her voice as she spoke the name was freezing to Shepard and he paused, suddenly alert.

"No, John Shepard," he replied. The woman's eyes narrowed as she studied him then nodded.

"I beg your pardon," the noblewoman started, her tone warming up suddenly as she closed her book. "I am Anora The—" She suddenly stopped, a pained look crossing her face before she started up again.

"I am Anora mac Tir," she introduced herself. "I have heard of the rumors about the Hero of Ferelden's sudden appearance." The noblewoman seemed to study Shepard before she nodded.

"Then I take my leave. Have a good evening, Shepard." With a nod to Shepard Anora returned to walking down the hall and the commander watched as she turned a corner then rubbed the back of his neck.

_Guest of Fergus?_ Shepard wondered. After a moment he turned and returned to his room, wanting to get cleaned up. Locking the door behind him Shepard stripped off his shirt as he made his way to the back room to clean up and found a tub with steaming hot water waiting for him. He had no idea when or how the servants knew when to fill the tub, but it was definitely welcomed and in perhaps record time Shepard was naked and easing himself slowly into the hot water.

"Oh yeah, that's the stuff," Shepard groaned to himself when he was fully seated into the tub. Baths were a luxury even in his universe – well, that is to say that on the ship water was rationed to short showers and most of the crewmen used the sonic shower instead. Water on Earth was also rationed as most of the water on the planet was polluted with garbage from centuries ago – surprisingly enough no one had found the best way to clean all the water on a planet just yet. Shepard could honestly say that he had one true bath in clean water the day of the party after the Blitz.

Dunking his head under water for a moment, Shepard wiped the excess water off his face as he stared at the wall across from him. Had he really been in Ferelden for half a year already? Shifting his legs Shepard gave a sigh as he leaned back so his head rested against the edge of the tub. It took a moment before Shepard realized that someone was in the room with him, and that someone was definitely not Fergus. The person was leaning against he doorway to the room and the shadows just happened to fall across his face.

"Enjoying the view?" Shepard asked, turning slightly to face the intruder.

"Oh I definitely am," the man said, the accent making him sound rather lecherous to Shepard's ears. He raised an eyebrow as the man stepped forward to reveal a blond, tattooed elf, and the elf leaned against the wall, just looking over Shepard. "Very handsome indeed."

"I think you need to get your eyes checked," Shepard said, raising a hand to look down at the burn scars and then back at the elf, shifting to sit up and crossed his arms. For some reason, Shepard had the feeling that he wasn't quite safe in the tub and not in the weird-blond-elf-is-going-to-murder-him way. "Who are you and how did you get into my room? I know for a fact that I had the doors locked."

"And you did," the elf replied cheekily. "Ah, but what are locks to a rogue such as myself? My name is Zevran – Zev to my friends – and you must be John Shepard."

"I am," Shepard conceded. "So what are you doing here?"

"Offering to scrub your back." Shepard snorted at that and looked away to rub the back of his neck. "If I must be honest, it's to get a look at you. I had heard that His Grace had picked up a fellow who dropped out of the Fade and looked like the Hero of Ferelden. They weren't lying about that last part." He felt something akin to pain in Zevran's voice and Shepard blinked, turning to look back at the elf. Zevran was giving Shepard a look, almost wistful and sad.

"You are not Aedan," Zevran said softly.

"No," Shepard said quietly. "No I'm not." Zevran just stared at Shepard before he bowed his head and left the room. He listened to the door open and closed behind the elf and Shepard splashed some water onto his face.

He wondered what Aedan had meant to Zevran.

* * *

That's right, Shepard has no idea what honey is. Remember the news about bees dying and no one knew why? Yup I decided to pull that in and made bees extinct ergo no honey (except that since Shepard was Earthborn he probably wouldn't have had honey in any case.)

Next arc will be set at the end of _DA:O - Awakenings_ so spoiler alert!


End file.
